Officials review bodycam, say police shooting of Edgewater woman with knife is justified
The Miami officers who fatally shot a woman with a knife in Edgewater were legally justified in their use of force, the state attorney’s office announced in a close out memo of the investigation.
The shooting happened on June 24, 2024 at around 10:30 p.m. in the area of Northeast 2nd Avenue and 25th Street.
The woman, Mariel Rivera Samuel, had reportedly been brandishing a kitchen knife at her roommate when he fled the apartment and called police.
“She had a knife that I felt threatened with and it wasn’t the first time she had a knife in her hand,” Samuel’s roommate, Hamid Hamidi, told NBC6 at the time. “If I knew it was going to come down to this I probably wouldn’t have called the cops but then I think did I make the right decision, I don’t know.”
He said he called 911 to try to de-escalate the situation, telling them that she was having some sort of mental crisis and was threatening them.
Redacted bodycam footage of the incident shows Hamidi explaining the situation to officers, telling them he tried to avoid Rivera Samuel as much as possible for the month they shared an Airbnb.
“I tried to avoid this as much as I could… but it’s her second time charging at me with a knife and stuff. She just claims that I’m from Puerto Rico, that I’ve been sent over here to get her or whatever,” he said. “I guess it’s just paranoia.”
Video shows officers approaching the door and speaking to Rivera-Samuel, who says that Hamidi stole her apple juice, wanted to kick her out and peed on a key that she needed.
The bodycam footage cuts as officers move inside the home and jumps to when they’re walking out after the shooting.
Three officers had responded to the report. Two of them, Officers Victor Borges and Lulia Damian, opened fire, striking Rivera-Samuel. Video of the moments shots were fired was not shared with NBC6.
“The officers spoke with her, observed she was acting erratically, and determined she would be transported to a mental health facility,” the state attorney’s office said in the memo. “As the officers were preparing to take Rivera-Samuel into custody, she went into her bedroom and retrieved a knife. As she exited her bedroom, she was holding the knife and came toward the officers.”
Rivera-Samuel was pronounced dead at a hospital.
“She was very respectful with me,” Octavio Pino, the woman’s landlord, said at the time of the shooting. “She always paid her rent.”
In the moments after the shooting, footage shows other officers telling one of the ones involved to “go get in your car” and remain silent. The body camera is then muted.
After “reviewing the facts and evidence, including body worn camera footage,” the state attorney’s office said they found the use of deadly force to be legally justified.
At the time, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said: “The sanctity of life is a central principle to everything we do here at the Miami Police Department, the loss of life at any incident, at any level or by any involvement is a tragic incident… Ihad an opportunity to briefly speak with the officers, they were all visibly shaken as you can imagine.”
