At today’s sentencing of North Miami Police Officer Jonathan Aledda for his conviction of culpable negligence, “a Miami-Dade County judge decided to withhold adjudication during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, ordering Aledda to serve probation, perform 100 hours of community service and write an essay on the importance of proper communication at a police scene,” as reported by Local10.com.
In 2016, Jonathan Aledda shot caretaker Charles Kinsey when he believed that a toy truck held by his autistic patient, Arnaldo Rios, was a gun.
According to the article, “Aledda testified in his retrial that he thought Kinsey’s life was in danger and that he was forced to fire at Rios, inadvertently shooting Kinsey instead.”
At the hearing, which was broadcast live, Judge Alan Fine stated that Officer Aledda was solely responsible for firing his weapon.
A tearful Aledda appeared to be visibly emotional yet relieved, as he was embraced by family members, fellow officers and members of his legal team. While the City of North Miami had already moved to fire him last month, Officer Aledda will be given the opportunity to appeal that decision.
We have thus far been unable to determine if Officer Aledda will be able to keep his police certification in light of this conviction. His attorney, Douglas Hartman is unavailable for comment until later this afternoon.
We will update this post as soon as we receive more information.
Stephanie
This man should NEVER be allowed to have any control over a gun! He could have easily killed an innocent man. He should NEVER be allowed to be on any police force again!
Ellen, he made a really big mistake and will pay for it. Thank God no one was killed. However, I don’t believe he is beyond redemption as cop. With proper law enforcement training, which he obviously did not receive at the unaccredited NMPD, Jonathan Aledda stands an very good chance at becoming a fine police officer. Don’t forget he’s young, he’s learned a very hard lesson, and he deserves a second chance. I hope you find it in your heart to give the kid a break.
The real tragedy from this entire incident (aside from Mr. Kinsey’s injuries, of course) is that three good cops paid a bigger price even though they had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting. Gary Eugene, Emile Hollant and Neal Cuevas all became collateral damage thanks to Larry Juriga’s lies and manipulations, and his evil quest for power. But, I believe that one day he’ll get exactly what he deserves. Karma has a way of leveling the playing field. Just saying.
Stephanie, I like the way you think-
Everyone deserves a second chance, he may make a very decent cop.
I believe in Karma, a quest for power is never a plus
Why was Mr.Charles Kinsey handcuffed after being shot?
As the trained SWAT officer stated he believed Mr. Charles was being held hostage by an armed non compliant individual.
If this is protocol, it will be advisable to all who are legally armed to treat any police officer trespassing your property with extreme prejudice, if you hesitate you will be shot.
& after you are shot, Many people like Steph will say
“The officer made a really big mistake, he’s learned a very hard lesson, and he deserves a second chance.”
If that’s the protocol.
There doesn’t seem to be any reasonable explanation why Mr. Kinsey was handcuffed after being shot. You’d have to ask the officer who actually did the handcuffing for his rationale. What I can tell you is that Jonathan Aledda was not that officer.
I can also tell you that if you had read my other blog posts on this incident, I was and still am highly critical of the North Miami Police Department, which was in complete disarray at the time of the shooting. It had already made a serious of grievous missteps and, in fact, lost its state accreditation under former Chief Lenny Burgess and then Assistant Chief Larry Juriga. The SWAT team, of which Aledda was a member, was a hot mess. It remains to be seen whether or not the NMPD has made any progress since the shooting. Unfortunately, we may never find out unless and until another tragic incident occurs, and we see how it is handled. It is my hope that progress has been made.
I do believe, however, that Jonathan Aledda deserves a second chance for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that he was poorly trained by a department that lacked the talent and skills to train anyone, much less a member of an elite SWAT team.
The real irony is that City Manager Larry Spring claimed that former Chief Gary Eugene was a “political appointment,” when the ultimate political appointment was Larry Juriga. Don’t forget that Juriga had the support of County Commissioner Sally Heyman, lobbyist Ron Book and union president Steadman Stahl all lobbying the the elected officials and the City Manager, who refused to consider any of the much more qualified candidates who applied.
Larry Juriga is the consummate politician, who knew how to charm residents and city officials into believing he was the best choice. Those particular charms may work on voters who fall for pretty words, but they do not a police chief make.
As you can see, it is quite presumptuous, and erroneous, of you to insinuate what “Steph will say” about anything at all.
Stephanie, I read a couple of articles saying Neil Cuevas filed a lawsuit against the department in 2018. But thus far I’m unable to find any outcome. Do you know if the case has been decided?
Thanks!
It appears that the lawsuit is still in the court system. I’m not sure of the progress right now, but I’ll look into it when I can. Thanks!