Eight months later, commissioner apologizes to woman shot with a rubber bullet by FTL police

Christina Saint Louis

Eight months after a Fort Lauderdale police officer shot LaToya Ratlieff in the face with a rubber bullet at a Black Lives Matter protest, a city official has apologized to her directly for the first time.

At a meeting with Ratlieff Wednesday, Commissioner Ben Sorensen gave Ratlieff “a really heartfelt apology,” according to her spokesman Evan Ross. “It had a level of humanity to it that was very genuine.”

(Mayor Dean Trantalis has publicly claimed to have apologized, though when pressed by the Herald he walked back the statement, saying he had left Ratlieff a voicemail. Ratlieff told the Herald she never got the message and when she checked her phone there was no record of one.)

“I appreciate that his apology was not simply for what happened to me, but for the ongoing impact it has on my life,” Ratlieff said of Sorensen in a statement.

“LaToya was hurt in my city commission district,” Sorensen said to the Herald. So, “I said to myself, ‘it’s up to me to reach out and engage with her.’ ”

Sorensen apologized on no one’s behalf but his own, he said.

Sorensen is a Presbyterian minister and is the former volunteer chaplain for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, according to his bio on the city website. He now volunteers in that capacity for the Hollywood Police Department and said he has been working with Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom and Attorney Alain Boileau on implementing police reforms.

Sorensen looks forward to partnering with Ratlieff on future reform initiatives, he said.

Since Ratlieff was shot with the projectile by Officer Eliezer Ramos during a May 31 protest, the police department has opened an investigation to determine whether Ramos improperly used potentially lethal force. Videos and photos reviewed by the Herald showed that Ratlieff was walking away from officers and doing nothing threatening or aggressive at the time she was shot.

When Ratlieff first met with the department last year, the lead investigator told her Ramos was a “good guy” who wouldn’t have shot her on purpose, she said.

That investigator was then removed from the case, but current investigators have taken an “accusatory and ridiculous” approach when questioning Ratlieff, her spokesman has said.

Rick Maglione, the chief of police at the time Ratlieff was shot, was reassigned amid the controversy over his handling of the case and replaced by interim chief Karen Dietrich last July.

Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Ben Sorensen
Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Ben Sorensen

But Dietrich, a 30-year veteran of the department, is stepping down from the position as the department continues its search for a permanent chief. “I wish nothing but the best to whoever sits in this seat because it’s not an easy job,” she said in an interview with WIOD. “It will suck the life out of you if you let it.”

Asked to apply to remain in the post permanently, she “respectfully declined,” she said.

Frank Sousa, interim assistant chief, said investigations of Ramos and other departmental personnel over their conduct during the protest are “still open and active.”

“We are conducting a fair and impartial investigation to determine what exactly occurred. At the conclusion of these cases, all investigative information will be made public and available [for] review.”

Miami Herald investigative reporters Sarah Blaskey and Nicholas Nehamas contributed to this report.

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