Miami Policeman Who Ignited Riot in 1989 Is Fired
The policeman whose fatal shooting of a black motorcyclist ignited a 1989 race riot was fired Tuesday, 10 months after a jury acquitted him of manslaughter.
William Lozano, 34, shot motorcyclist Clement Lloyd as the cyclist, who was being chased by a police car, sped toward Lozano. A passenger on the motorcycle, Allan Blanchard, was killed when it crashed.
The Jan. 16, 1989, shooting sparked three days of rioting in Miami. Later that year, Lozano was convicted of manslaughter. An appeals court overturned the conviction in 1991, ruling a Miami jury may have found Lozano guilty because it feared an innocent verdict would bring more riots. He was acquitted in a second trial in Orlando last June.
Lozano had been suspended without pay since the shooting. In firing him, Police Chief Calvin Ross said Lozano violated a directive that allows deadly force only as a last resort.
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