MIAMI – Two men charged in the shooting of an undercover Miami-Dade narcotics detective were back in court Thursday.
Steve Gallon IV, son of Miami-Dade school board member Steve Gallon III, along with Atiba Moore, faced a judge Thursday morning in separate hearings.
Both are charged with attempted first-degree murder after the officer, identified in public charging documents and in open court as Darrian Washington, was grazed by a bullet March 8.
Gallon’s arrest form stated that he was the one who fired the shot that grazed the head of Washington, who was working a surveillance detail, and that it happened after Moore “became aware” his vehicle was “being followed” and called Gallon to “set up” the officer.
But Gallon’s defense attorney, Rod Vereen, has challenged the police narrative, telling Local 10 News in mid-March that his client’s arrest form does not indicate that at the time that Gallon knew the victim in this case, an undercover detective, was an officer.
“You can’t say he was undercover but somebody should have known he was a police officer,” Vereen said in a March 10 interview. “You can’t have it both ways.”
In the meantime, Moore’s attorney, Bradford Cohen asked the court for an order preserving any case-related evidence on the officer’s electronic devices, including “social media, anything he has concerning this case, (direct messages).”
“I am not seeking to get it yet,” Cohen said Thursday. “I’m just seeking to not destroy it.”
A police union attorney objected to the request, calling it “an attempt to further victimize my client.”
But Judge Alberto Milian ruled that the evidence be preserved and said he would hear arguments about relevancy as they surface.
“We will cross that bridge when we get there,” Milian said. “Right now, this is a preservation order of potential evidence only as to this case, very specific and surgical, anything related to this incident on the date that it occurred.”
Both men are expected back in court in June.
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