‘No lights. No sirens.’ Lawyer says wounded detective gave no indication he was a cop

The attorney for the man accused of shooting and wounding an undercover Miami-Dade police detective this week said his client had no way of knowing the man was an officer because he wasn’t in a marked car or wearing a uniform.

“The [arrest] form as it was written doesn’t indicate anywhere in it that he knew he was a police officer,” Roderick Vereen, attorney for 32-year-old Steve Gallon IV, told the Miami Herald Friday following his client’s first appearance before a judge.

Gallon IV is accused of coming up from behind Miami-Dade police Detective Darrion Washington and shooting him once. The bullet grazed the detective’s neck. He was treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center and released Thursday morning.

Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade County police spokesman, said Friday that Washington was continuing to recover at home.

Wednesday’s shooting quickly turned into a high-profile case after it was learned that the main suspect is the adult son of prominent Miami-Dade County School Board Member Steve Gallon III.

“This is really more high-profile than it should be,” Vereen said.

The elder Gallon declined to comment on the case when reached Friday.

What police say happened

According to police, the incident happened around 4 p.m. in the area of Northwest 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue. Washington was conducting a narcotics investigation with other officers and following a black Nissan Maxima driven by 30-year-old Atiba Moore.

Police say Moore realized he was being followed and sped off. Officers at first lost sight of him, but eventually caught up. Washington watched Moore drive slowly past a home three times. Three men were outside the house, according to police.

On the third time around, Washington’s car was directly behind Moore’s, and Moore hit the brakes, causing Washington to crash into the Nissan, police said.

Moore then jumped out of the car and faced Washington, who was by now out of his car. That’s the moment police say Gallon IV ambushed Washington while Moore tried to run away.

Washington never fired his weapon, according to police.

The officer, not able to fire his weapon, was hit by a single bullet that did not penetrate his skull, police sources said.

Moore was arrested by Washington and other undercover officers, but Gallon got away.

Moore and Gallon have been friends for several years, police say, and can be seen posing together on social media.

A massive manhunt began to find Gallon as Washington was rushed to the hospital and treated.

Video surveillance revealed that Gallon tried to hide in an alley next to the house Moore was circling in front of, the report read. During their canvassing, officers spoke to three men at that home — Frederick and Kendrick Watkins, and Andre Copeland.

Frederick and Kendrick told police that while they do live at the home and heard the shooting, no one was inside the house other then them.

Police decided to continue to watch the home and hours later saw Gallon walk out. He was immediately arrested Thursday.

Moore was arrested on a charge of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Frederick and Kendrick Watkins and Copeland were arrested on accessory after the fact.

Gallon IV is charged with attempted second-degree murder of a law enforcement officer with a firearm. Miami-Dade County Judge Mindy Glazer Friday ordered Gallon held without bond. A bond hearing will be scheduled at a later date where Vereen said he plans to question police about the veracity of the arrest report.

‘That’s not a fact’

Vereen is not disputing that Gallon shot Washington, but he is arguing that it was not possible for his client to know he was a police officer.

“Unmarked unit. No lights. No sirens. He rammed the back of Atiba Moore’s vehicle. He had no uniform on,” Vereen said. “He had nothing indicating he was a police officer, other than saying he had a badge in his hand. Really? What about the badge that’s supposed to be hanging around your neck?”

Vereen also takes issue with police saying Moore and Gallon had a telephone conversation in which they discussed setting up the detective.

“You only know that if you were part of the conversation and that was actually stated or you saw a text message where that was actually indicated,” Vereen said. “That was just a gratuitous statement that he made to try to tie this thing up.”

Officers said in Gallon’s arrest report that they determined the conversation happened by using cellphone site records. But Vereen said those would only provide a rough area of where the conversation took place, not what was said.

“That’s not a fact. [The officer] is guessing at this. He’s making stuff up. He said he had the cell site records. Cell site records don’t tell you the nature of a conversation,” Vereen told the Miami Herald. “They just tell you whether contact was made with this phone or that phone, or where the cellphone was within a three-mile area.”

“But when you start talking about did he contact him for the purpose of setting up the officer, well, now, you’re getting into facts that you can’t establish,” he said.

Younger years

Miami-Dade Public school records show Gallon IV was the starting cornerback at Miami Northwestern High School, where his father was once the principal.

He also had a promising college football career at several colleges, including Arizona State University and Mount San Antonio College in California.

A search of county court records turned up an arrest record going back to 2008, but all but one for misdemeanors such as cannabis possession and loitering.

He was arrested on a felony forgery charge in December 2013, but prosecutors never ended up pursuing that case, nor any of his three misdemeanor arrests.

Miami Herald staff writers Sommer Brugal, Charles Rabin, David J. Neal, Devoun Cetoute and Omar Rodriguez Ortiz contributed to this report.