The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 24

90 90. METRO STATE THE HERALD 4B THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2005 BROWARD COUNTY Shot migrant worker sues BSO I A Mexican man who was shot in the head by a Broward sheriff's deputy has filed a federal lawsuit against the sheriff's office and others. BY JERRY BERRIOS needs up to an hour to get dressed, depending on what he is wearing. Brushing his teeth can take 20 to 30 minutes. Writing his first and last names takes nearly one minute.

And that's considered progress. is the Mexican worker who was shot in the head by Broward Sheriff's Deputy Lewis Perry in November 2004. In May, underwent brain surgery to put a metal plate in his skull. He now has the mental capacity of a 10- to 12-year-old, said his attorney David Kubiliun. On Wednesday, Kubiliun said he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf seeking $15 million from the Broward Sheriff's Office, Broward County, former deputy Perry and Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne.

Police brutality will not be tolerated or overlooked, Kubiliun said. "Mexican migrant workers and many Latin Americans have been discriminated against and been abused by police in this country," Kubiliun said. BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. attended the Wednesday news conference but declined to speak to the media. now uses a wheelchair.

He can walk with a cane, but gets winded after 20 or 30 steps, Kubiliun said. "My brother is not the same," said brother Cruz. The brothers left Chiapas in southern Mexico to provide a better life for their family in Mexico. Pictures of wife and two young children were on display at the press conference. Other photos of before the shooting showed him frolicking in beach waves and in a soccer uniform.

The after photos showed the massive scars on the left side of his head. had only been in Pompano Beach for a few days, and had found work as a day laborer. On Nov. 3, returning to his cousin's apartment in the Whispering Isles complex, he accidentally went to the wrong door and tried to open it. Mistaking him for a burglar, a neighbor called 911.

"He made a single mistake confusing his cousin's apartment with another," said Jorge Lomonaco, consul general of Mexico in Miami. When deputies arrived, and his cousin, Javier were walking across the parking lot. The officers didn't speak Spanish and the men didn't speak English. Deputy Perry, who shot was fired in December after an internal investigation into an unrelated matter. Perry has been charged with perjury, four counts of official misconduct and one count of falsifying records stemming from a Nov.

12, 2003, accident he was involved in while driving a BSO patrol car. Regarding shooting, Perry told investigators that when he attempted to restrain his gun accidentally discharged. BSO has paid for PHOTOS BY C.W. STAFF INJURED: Above left, attorney David Kubiliun discusses a lawsuit seeking $15 million in damages for his client, who was shot in the head by a sheriff's deputy. Surgical stitches mark wound.

stay at Manor Pines Convalescent Center and the Williamsburg Landing Assisted Living facility. When asked whether BSO would continue paying, Leljedal said, "We really can't discuss specifics because of this pending lawsuit." The Mexican consulate is attempting to obtain visas for family to move to Broward, Lomonaco said. These types of incidents need to be prevented, he said. "We need to send a strong message," Lomonaco said. "Mexicans are not HOLLYWOOD No terror link found, judge halts man's deportation An immigration judge has given a boost to a Hollywood restaurateur's bid to stay in this country, but the Egyptian national still faces a long legal journey.

BY JAY WEAVER A Hollywood restaurant owner, whose life was turned upside down after being labeled as a "terrorist suspect" by U.S. authorities, won his first victory in immigration court to clear his name and remain in the country. An immigration judge has found no government proof that Basuyouy Mamdouh Ebaid has any ties to terrorism. But the judge has halted deportation proceedings against the Egyptian national because of widespread media reports that he was on a federal terror watch list. U.S.

Immigration Judge Kenneth S. Hurewitz concluded last week "it is more likely than not that he would be tortured by the Egyptian government or its agents if removed to Egypt," citing widespread evidence of that country's history of torturing HURRICANE SEASON MIAMI Illegal gambling machines destroyed could be freed. Separately, Ebaid's lawyer is trying to persuade the state circuit court to throw out Ebaid's Miami-Dade pot conviction. In 1999, a Miami-Dade judge erased his conviction because he was a first-time offender, but U.S.. authorities recognized it as a felony conviction making Ebaid deportable.

If he overcomes his remaining immigration and criminal problems, Ebaid could apply for permanent residency and eventually U.S. citizenship. Ebaid, who has been held at Krome since early March, first came to this country on a student visa in 1984. He is married to a Mexican national with U.S. citizenship and they are parents of two children.

His wife, Maria Flores, declined to comment on Wednesday. In his 14-page order, the judge found Ebaid "credible" especially regarding his assertion that he has "no ties to terrorism and does not know why his name was on a U.S. government terror watch list." Hurewitz also recognized that I Miami officials happily smashed a handful of illegal video gambling machines recently confiscated as part of a long-running law enforcement campaign to push the business out of the city. BY LUISA YANEZ Wearing goggles and swinging sledgehammers, several Miami officials on Wednesday destroyed some of nearly 900 illegal video gambling machines that were recently confiscated from local cafeterias. The machines are the booty of Miami police's "quality of life" task force, created by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz to battle everything from the video bandits to backyard chickens to abandoned cars on lawns.

"We've put together a cohesive effort to go into neighborhoods and clean them up," said Diaz, who took vigorous swings at one machine following a press conference in a parking lot of the city's General Services Administration building. Getting rid of the $1 gambling machines, or maquinitas, is a major part of an ongoing plan to clean up neighborhoods throughout Miami, the mayor said. The storefront cafeterias with gambling machines have flourished in Little Havana, Wynwood, Allapattah and the Model City area, where they have attracted illegal activity, including drug dealing and prostitution, said city officials. A LOSING GAME Islamic extremists. Ebaid still faces a long legal journey that began in February when Hollywood police arrested the 45-year-old for selling alcohol to minors after hours at his and his wife's Young Circle restaurant, Exotic Bites.

After his arrest, police discovered he was on a government watch list for suspected terrorists and alerted federal authorities, generating a wave of negative publicity. FBI agents later determined that Ebaid had no ties to terrorists, but the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him because he had a 1999 aggravated felony conviction for marijuana possession that made him deportable as a foreign national. The Department of Homeland Security has not contested Hurewitz's Sept. 1 decision, but has until Oct.

3 to file an appeal, according to the Executive Office of Immigration Review. If the department appeals, Ebaid could remain at the Krome detention center in West MiamiDade County for many more months. If it doesn't appeal, he Cafeteria owners would typically bring the machines into their businesses by falsely telling city officials on their permit applications that they were being used for entertainment purposes only. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez, who led the task force, said the machines would pay customers only 10 percent of what they collected in revenue. Winners would receive credits, which they cashed in with merchants, who netted as much as $4,000 a week.

"These machines are a haven of bad news," said Commissioner Joe whose District 3 encompasses much of Little Havana. blamed the gambling cafeterias for fueling incidents of domestic violence in many poor Miami neighborhoods. "Hard-working men will stop off for a beer at one of these places and spend their paycheck on the video machines. When they go home and their wives ask: 'Where's the rent said. Maj.

Miguel Exposito, who supervised the raids, said some of the businesses stripped of machines have since closed down; others have moved and reopened outside the city limits. Laborers weren't the only ones lured into these establishments by the video bandits, Exposito said. "There were senior citizens who were addicted to these machines and were spending their Social Security checks playing them," he said. the publicity over Ebaid's name being on a watch list reported in The Herald and other media could tag him as a terrorist suspect in the eyes of Egyptian officials. "The applicant has presented two letters received from friends in Egypt after his arrest, both tending to show that his situation is known to Egyptian authorities," Hurewitz wrote.

"Those letters state that the applicant's family in Egypt were at one point under surveillance, and that the Egyptian police had searched the homes of his brothers. The letters further indicate that the police have asked his family and friends about him." The judge cited critical reports by the U.S. Department of State and Human Rights Watch about Egypt's history of torturing terrorist suspects. In halting Ebaid's deportation, Hurewitz said the evidence "overwhelmingly suggests that the applicant is similarly situated to those suspected terrorists who have already been tortured by the Egyptian government." LAWSUIT The city's crackdown on cafeterias, which began in 2003, has angered cafeteria owners. Last November, they banded together and filed suit against the city, claiming Miami officials are harassing them.

The group of about 40 owners is being represented by former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez. "This is a clear case of selective enforcement of a law that is clearly being preempted by state law. People are being arrested for carrying on a business that is lawful and protected by state law," Suarez said. Herald staff writer Michael Vasquez contributed to this report. Ophelia's future track remains very uncertain OPHELIA, FROM 1B Florida into southeast GeorIf it moves a little further westward, it could gia.

STORM UPDATE County. For the National Hurricane impact the coast directly. That's why the And with the storm Center, the 15th named storm expected to drift north hug- of a yet another hectic and warnings are Tropical Storm Ophelia lingered off the east coast of Florida, its direction ging the coast for several harrowing hurricane season uncertain as officials warned residents of central and northern Florida to keep days, there was scant margin remained a meteorologic puz- ERIC BLAKE, meteorologist, National Hurricane Center a close watch on the system. for error. zle, one with a key piece still Tropical storm force winds three days could the and cials S.

C. Storm Center away a trough cross peninsula were preparing for MISS, ALA. GA. of at least 39 mph extended 70 dropping down from the Mid- emerge into the Gulf of Mex- Ophelia to primarily be a haz- Storm Path miles from Ophelia's center, west and Great Lakes. ico.

ard for marine interests, with Sat. 8 p.m. just short of beaches already Others steered it further heavy rains and brisk winds -Fri. 8 p.m. battered by roiling waves.

STATIONARY out into the Atlantic before that could make beaches and -Today 8 p.m. FLA. Wed, 11 p.m. "If it moves a little further When it arrives and how potentially looping back driving dangerous. Gulf of westward, it could impact the deeply it pushes may be the toward the coast.

Mexico coast directly," Blake said. driving force in Ophelia's Hurricane Jeanne executed STATE SAYS IT'S READY "That's why the warnings are future track. a similar circle before striking Col. Julie Jones, director of Miami up." Otherwise, Blake said, the Central Florida last Septem- the Florida Fish and Wildlife 90 200 makes. BAHAMAS 10' Tropical storm warnings system remained largely sta- but farther south and out Conservation Commission were posted from Cocoa tionary and was expected to into the Atlantic.

law enforcement division, Tropical Storm Ophelia Beach to Flagler Beach, mean- meander slightly, slowly The hurricane center's said search and rescue teams Time 11 p.m. Movement nearly stationary ing winds of at least 39 mph north. five-day "area of uncertainty" Florida sent to Mississippi Latitude 28.9 Direction northwestward drift could hit within 24 hours. "The steering pattern is covered a huge area from have already returned to clear," he said. Miami-Dade Longitude 79.3 From Miami 223 miles A storm watch, meaning not quite South to Central respond to Ophelia if needed.

similar conditions could "There is no strong high to North Carolina. "Rest assured that Wind 50 MPH From Cape Canaveral 85 miles we have occur within 36 hours, move it northward and noth- With the storm likely to in Florida the assets to react extended north the it SOURCE: National Hurricane Center THE HERALD to state ing really pushing very spend more time over warm to any natural occurrence line at Fernandina Beach. quickly in any direction." waters, it is expected to today, tomorrow or next Squall lines were sweeping For a second day, com- strengthen, possibly to a low- week," she said. along our central and north- erratic motion over the next sections of the coast, and puter guidance models spit level hurricane. State Meteorologist Ben east coast of the state, need to few he said.

days," forecasters predicted from out dramatically different In Tallahassee, Florida Nelson echoed the warnings keep a very close eye on this Tina five to eight inches of rain potential scenarios. emergency operations chief of hurricane forecasters. system because Ophelia is ald's Tallahassee bureau Cummings of The Hercon- along its fringes from Central Some suggested the storm Craig Fugate said state offi- "Floridians, especially probably going to have some tributed to this story..