

By Brian Ballou, Sun Sentinel

July 13–PLANTATION — A veteran police officer on foot patrol fatally shot a man who punched him in the face behind an office building on Sunday evening, according to a police spokesman.

The officer was conducting a routine foot patrol at 8:48 p.m. behind a plaza that contains doctor’s offices, when he found a man outside the back of the building at 300 S. State Road 7, said Detective Philip Toman, police spokesman.

The officer told the man to move on, but the man assaulted him, Toman said. The officer used his Taser but it was ineffective, Toman said. As the man became more aggressive, the officer fired several shots at him.

Police did not disclose how many times the man was shot or where on his body he was shot.

The man, who police said may be homeless, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, and died after surgery Sunday night. His identity has not been released pending notification of next of kin, Toman said. The man was only described as being in his 50’s.

The officer, who was not identified Sunday night, sustained minor injuries from the punch and was treated at Westside Regional Medical Center. The officer was re-assigned to desk duty pending an investigation by the department’s internal affairs unit.

Toman said patrol officers conduct routine foot patrols throughout the city, often going in dark alleyways and behind commercial plazas.

“It’s not clear what the subject was doing behind the building,” Toman said during a news conference at the scene.

Toman said there may be surveillance video from the plaza and that officers would likely scrutinize the footage as part of their investigation.

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