OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — A federal judge says two Osceola County deputies do not have qualified immunity in a deadly shooting from 2022 outside a Target store.
Judge Gregory Presnell explained in 60-page order that a series of “reckless and unreasonable decisions” by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and their deputies led to this minor misdemeanor case turning into chaos, with a full takedown and later, a homicide scene.
On April 27, 2022, at a Kissimmee Target, deputies pursued two people accused of shoplifting Pokémon cards and a pizza worth about $40. The teens got into an Audi with two others and then deputies in unmarked vehicles blocked them in. The driver Jayden Baez tried to escape but collided with unmarked law enforcement vehicles. Then, deputies fired more than 30 shots into the vehicle, killing Baez and injuring Joseph Lowe.
The deputies were cleared of criminal charges in 2022, but now, the families of the victims are suing the Sheriff’s Office and the deputies who fired their guns—Scott Koffinas and Ramy Yacoub.
Federal Judge Gregory Presnell called the takedown “organized, planned, and carried out by multiple senior, experienced Osceola County deputies.”
He described it as “a small army of 28 deputies and a helicopter,” covering all exits and possible escape routes from the Target parking lot on April 27, 2022.
Many deputies were leaving a training that ended early on vehicle takedowns and were ordered to “gear up” for a call at this Target.
The judge said the deputies’ most significant failure that day was that none of them, including Yacoub and Koffinas, activated their lights and sirens.
They were in undercover vehicles, wearing undercover clothing.
The judge said: “No reasonable officer would have initiated the takedown without any notice or warning that they were law enforcement. And, more importantly, under these circumstances, no reasonable officer would have so recklessly employed deadly force—as Yacoub and Koffinas did—to prevent the escape of two petit thieves.”
The judge says any reasonable person would try to escape after being rammed by an unmarked car and truck.
The judge wrote that Yacoub, Koffinas, and their fellow deputies directly contributed to creating a dangerous situation and that “the only discernible justification for the deputies’ insistence on forcing the takedown is that they were eager to practice their training; and that is not a lawful justification.”
Osceola County claimed that the shooting was justified and that deputies should receive qualified immunity. The county denied that any policy or lack of training caused the shooting.
Now, this case against the individual deputies can proceed to trial but without the immunity claim for the deputies.
We reached out to Osceola County Sheriff’s Office for comment late Wednesday night. We will update this story as soon as we hear back.
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