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Cocoa cop fires through windshield at unarmed man in officer-involved shooting, no charges expected

COCOA, Fla. — Body camera video released Wednesday is shedding light on an officer-involved shooting where shots were fired at a man who was calling for help.

The video shows the man admitted to the police officer that he understood why he had been shot.

The State Attorney's Office is calling this a lawful use of force after reviewing the case.

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In December, Officer Xzevies Baez was on Forrest Avenue responding to a 911 call for assistance.

He was still in the street when he saw someone rapidly approaching him with what he thought was a gun.

Cocoa police body camera video was captured by Baez after he shot and injured 54-year-old Keith Seal.

Baez fired six shots through his windshield before exiting his vehicle.

“I'm not going to move, I have no weapons,” Seal said in the video.

Officers said Seal was shot in the elbow and actually called police to his apartment complex.

He was worried about two female friends who hadn't shown up there.

Seal told a dispatcher one of the women had an abusive ex and she had been beaten up before.

Seal later told the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that he went outside looking for an officer because the dispatcher told him to go outside.

But what Baez said he saw was a white man rapidly walking toward the sidewalk in what he described as a "purposeful, fast and aggressive manner."  He also thought the man was armed.

Once Baez realized Seal was unarmed, he began to help the injured man.

Baez remains on administrative duty.

Seal went on to say he wasn't thinking, but later in the hospital when he learned he'd been shot through a windshield, he said he wanted Baez charged criminally and threatened a civil suit against the department.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Cocoa police said an internal review is still pending.

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