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Husband of woman killed at citizen cop academy forgives shooter

“And the bottom line, I am 100 percent accountable”.

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Officer Oscar Vasquez of the Jacksonville, Illinois Police Department, who is president of the National Citizens Police Academy Association, said he had never heard of anyone taking part in such courses being fatally shot.

As you may have heard, a 73-year-old woman was shot and killed by police during a “Shoot/Don’t Shoot” training exercise in Punta Gorda, Florida on Tuesday night.

Punta Gorda, Fla., Police Chief Tom Lewis gestures as he speaks to the media at the Public Safety Complex Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, in Punta Gorda, Fla.

Coel, 28, left the Miramar Police Department after 14 months in the Broward County municipality.

Investigators concluded that the allegations were unfounded except for the speeding, which they said topped out at 102 miles per hour and could have placed both men in danger.

Mary Knowlton, 73, was playing a “bad guy” during the Tuesday night roleplay training, where officers are put in scenarios and forced to decide if they should use deadly force, police said. She took photos of Mary Knowlton for the Charlotte Sun moments before Knowlton was shot.

The Latest on the case of a Florida officer who shot and killed a woman during a police “shoot/don’t shoot” demonstration (all times local): 11:30 a.m.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.

Coel is on administrative leave as police investigate the shooting.

Weinberg, who has filed a notice of intent to sue the city and the police department, released a police dash-cam video of the incident earlier this year.

Punta Gorda Police Lt. Katie Heck said officers in such demonstrations normally use “simunition guns”, which are real-looking weapons that fire a non-lethal projectile with reduced force. But not long after graduating with a biology degree in 2010, Coel shifted gears and made a decision to become a police officer.

In his report, Coel insisted Schumacher “walked towards me in an aggressive manner” and that he unleashed his dog after telling him repeatedly “to stop resisting and to go down to the ground”.

What officials didn’t discuss: Coel’s record. “This has been a major struggle”, one superior officer wrote. “He is letting the stress get to him, which is causing him to make more mistakes”.

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Coel remained on the force following the June complaint. “I obviously can’t say it’s easy to forgive, but it needs to be done”. “If he had been fired like he should have been when he ordered that dog to maul my client for a minute and 47 seconds, then this wouldn’t have happened”.

Lee Coel was accused twice of using excessive force during his rookie year in the Miramar Police Department