Police Officer Charged For Kicking ‘Visibly Pregnant’ Woman In Her Stomach

A North Miami Beach police officer is facing felony charges after allegedly kicking a woman, who was eight months pregnant, in the stomach in Florida, officials said.

Ambbar Pacheco, 26, was charged with one count of felony for aggravated battery of 27-year-old Evoni Murray.

An arrest affidavit said the kicking happened after Pacheco and her 21-year-old sister Mikaela Pacheco got into a confrontation with Murray and her 40-year-old boyfriend Joseph Predelus at the corner of Espanola Way and Washington Avenue around 8:40 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. The reason for the fight was not revealed in the report.

After the incident, the Miami Beach Police rushed to Espanola Way to answer the distress call by the pregnant woman, who was facing severe abdominal pains and contractions an hour after another woman had allegedly beaten her in the stomach.

Pacheco, who was arrested, didn’t deny the brutal attack on the visibly pregnant woman, the arrest report said.

"I saw red and beat the shit out of her," Pacheco said. She later said she "doesn't know who, but she kicked somebody," according to the affidavit.

“The victim was transported to Mount Sinai hospital, at last check, she delivered a healthy baby,” Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said.

A uniformed patrol officer, Pacheco was part of the North Miami Beach Police Department (NMBPD), Major Richard Rand, spokesperson for the department said. Pacheco, who was still under probationary employment, was relieved of duty with pay.

"She's been relieved of duty as of this morning pending an internal investigation," he said, adding he was unclear whether she faced any other complaints in her time on the force as her internal file hadn’t been reviewed yet.

In a related incident, a pregnant mother was shot seven times by two Seattle cops, killing her in June 2017.

The 30-year-old woman, Charleena Lyles, had reported a burglary attempt, after which the two cops — officers Jason Anderson and Steven McNew — had responded to her call. According to the police, when they reached her Seattle apartment, she lunged at them with a knife, wherein they shot her.

"Not one shot should have been fired, let alone seven," lawyer Karen Koehler said. "If you have been reading the dialogue you might have assumed she was a poor, single black woman with multiple children who must have been on drugs, and that is a false assumption and a false narrative.”

The autopsy report showed Lyles did not have any drugs or alcohol in her system during the confrontation.

"Did they shoot her as she fell to the ground? Was she running away?" Katrina Johnson, Lyles’ cousin said. "How did she get shot in the back? I still don't know that and understand that, but any which was, it was excessive force. Seven times for her little pregnant 100-pound self was out of control."

Lyles’ had previous incidences with the police that prompted the doubled-up response by the authorities, the Daily News reported. She had been arrested before for obstruction of a public official and harassment.

Police reports said she had feared the police officers were “devils” and members of the Ku Klux Klan. She brandished a pair of scissors and said, “Ain't none of ya'll leaving here today,” multiple times to the police officers, the report said.