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Cop Who Killed Librarian During Police Exercise In Punta Gorda Had Been Ousted By Miramar Police

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

The Punta Gorda policeman who tragically shot and killed a retired librarian when he fired real bullets — instead of blanks — at her during a citizens academy is a former Miramar officer with a troubled record, forced to resign from his job at the end of his rookie year.

Three years before the shooting that led to the death of 73-year-old Mary Knowlton on Tuesday, Lee Coel was accused twice of using excessive force and relieved of his duties before investigators found he violated department policies and was allowed to resign.

This year, he was sued in Punta Gorda after he ordered his K-9 to attack a bicyclist who was stopped for riding without a light at night, inflicting severe injuries that required surgery.

The officer’s background provides yet another twist to the death of the woman who was shot during a role-playing session in which she was a crime victim and he took the part of the “bad guy,” police said. The purpose: to help citizens learn the quick decisions that police must confront on the streets.

“This is a horrific event for all of us,” said Punta Gorda Chief Tom Lewis during a somber news conference Wednesday. “We were unaware that there was live ammunition in the gun.”

What’s unclear is why Coel, a graduate of Broward College police academy, carried a loaded revolver during the event at the Punta Gorda citizens police academy.

Read more about this story at our news partner, the Miami Herald

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