Lessons from Miami shootout for civilians?

[The Big D]

D, I'm curious as to what you are thinking regarding bad tactics. My understanding is that the FBI used several units to stakeout some banks they felt were likely to get robbed by Platt and Matix just off the South Dixie Highway in Kendall, Florida on the morning of April 11th 1986. SA McNeil, the agent in charge of the operation, believed that based on past behaviour, the two BGs were likely to commit a robbery in that locale at that time. Shortly after the stakeout began, agents Dove and Grogan spotted the suspect's vehicle and began to follow it. As other units were converging, the perps made three right hand turns, so there was at that time no doubt that they knew they were being followed. IIRC, SAs Manauzzi in one car, Mireles and Hanlon in another, McNeil in his car, and Grogan and Dove in theirs, at that time ran the BGs off the road. SA McNeil decided to make the stop because he felt that with the stakeout having been "made", the perps would change their MO, thus sending the FBI efforts to apprehend them back to the drawing board. In the meantime other robberys would occur and innocent lives would be lost.

Obviously we both know that SA McNeil understood that the situation was less than ideal to stop Platt and Matix. I'm not a cop, so while I tend to support SA McNeil's judgement, realizing that he didn't have hindsight on his side, perhaps I'm missing something. Is there a law enforcement principal, or protocol that he broke that could have prevented this tragedy?

Good points, Flop...allow me to explain. (Keep in mind that I wasn't there and "second guess" with an eye to keeping such from happening again.)

The agents were looking for a specific vehicle...they found it. Soon thereafter S/A's Grogan and Dove were "made." With the number of vehicles the FBI had deployed, the "made" factor could have been obviated by simply disengaging...make Platt and Mattix believe they were not being followed. They did not. Soon after being "made," Grogan said "felony car stop." However, they intentionally collided with the suspects. That is not how the stop should have proceeded. (Whenever cars collide, pit maneuvers notwithstanding, there is no way whatsoever to know how the vehicles will be located post-collision.)

The stop was wholly unmanaged thus vehicles ended up too close to the bad guys, guns left unsecured on car seats "disappeared," agents with long/auto weapons never got to the scene 'til it was over, etc. S/A Grogan lost his eyeglasses and was essentially blind, too. Bear in mind the FBI knew the suspects were heavily armed and had used deadly force. None of the agents involved in the shootout had a rifle available. Other agents in the surveillance did but they were among those who arrived after the fact.

The agents ended up in a neighborhood and witnesses called 9-1-1 not knowing LEO's were involved. Ditto Miami-Dade PD who should have been involved but were not.

I could go on and on. Two Special Agents were killed; others were seriously wounded. Absent S/A Mirales' truly heroics efforts, Platt and Mattix could have "won" the battle and escaped though both would likely have died soon thereafter.

This was a battle that should not have been lost but was.

Be safe.

 

[Jellybean]

yaktamer, No problem, I don't get mad anymore, especially with stuff I read on the internet.

All of the 20/20 hindsight in the world can't change the fact that SSA McNeill and his crew put together a plan to find two hardened killers, and it worked. When they found them, they decided they wouldn't let them go. They stopped them and killed them both, at a terrible price.

Sig' there is no doubt that the plan to find the killers was effective. But the "after contact" plan was flawed from start to finish. There is no bringing the dead agents back and they did die a heroes death. There is no question about that as they followed the orders given to them instead of bellyaching about having to work overtime or etc. But, there were mistakes made that need to be understood so that they are not made again. Yes, tracking and apprehending armed killers is dangerous and there is no guarantee that everyone will go home at the end of the day. But, if you have the opportunity to formulate a plan, based on extensive knowledge of the suspects, you should have a much better chance of survival as opposed to an accidental, chance meeting or an ambush situation. We can't just sweep this under a rug and forget about it with the excuse of 'well, they did their best and that's that'. History repeats itself, as it did on that day, and there is no doubt it will happen again, but hopefully not very often.

 

[trex1310]

What I learned (the FBI hasn't yet) is that giving a lawyer or accountant
a badge and a gun doesn't prepare him/her to make a traffic stop with
armed felons. Gung-ho can get you killed. I'm not questioning the
bravery, but the preparedness. I know I wasn't ready for combat, the
visions that will forever be in my head or watching my friends being killed
and maimed. I hope the FBI has done more than just invent a new
cartridge or two.

 

[samuelrp]

Twenty four years ago, the 9mm ammo was not nearly as good as Federal hydra shock 147 grain is today, Would today's ammo make a difference ?

 

[jtpur]

Miami shootout

From a two-tour Vietnam veteran and retired cop, here is my two cents worth:

Avoid areas where your personal safety is in question.

Always be aware of what is going on around you.

Avoid confrontation.

Walk away if you can.

Run away if you must.

When all else fails, do what you have to do to stay alive.

If forced to defend yourself make a report to authorities something like this: "I was in fear for my life and defended myself. I need to consult with an attorney now". Then shut up, lawyer up, and let your lawyer do all of your talking for you.

There will be nothing pleasant in your life for many months, perhaps several years, from that point. Keep reminding yourself that what is happening to you now could not have happened if you had failed to survive.

Here is something I would add to what is said here. "I was in fear of my life," sounds a bit too plain and almost too "police jargon technical" I would say something of this nature..."I thought he/she was going to kill me , so I had to defend myself...I don't feel very well, I need to go to the hospital and be checked out, Im too upset to talk" Then go to the hospital, tell them how upset you are, how sick to your stomach you are and after you are treated and released, get to that lawyer as soon as possible and follow the advice above. My personal opinion but saying you thought you were going to be killed, sure sounds a lot more like a person who had was really in danger than saying so coldly like an academy recruit, "I was in fear of my life....." be raw and be real....

 

[flop-shank]

Good points, Flop...allow me to explain. (Keep in mind that I wasn't there and "second guess" with an eye to keeping such from happening again.)

The agents were looking for a specific vehicle...they found it. Soon thereafter S/A's Grogan and Dove were "made." With the number of vehicles the FBI had deployed, the "made" factor could have been obviated by simply disengaging...make Platt and Mattix believe they were not being followed.

That may not have been a good idea. I could very well be wrong though. If the BGs escaped, they would likely ditch the black Monte Carlo, then go murder someone else for their vehicle. At that point the FBI would possibly be back to almost square one in their search. The BGs would also likely change their MO after realizing they had been patterned. I also think, IIRC, that the reason the FBI cats pressed the attack was that they felt the area they were in was preferential to more built up, dense areas nearby.

Soon after being "made," Grogan said "felony car stop." However, they intentionally collided with the suspects. That is not how the stop should have proceeded. (Whenever cars collide, pit maneuvers notwithstanding, there is no way whatsoever to know how the vehicles will be located post-collision.)

As I recall the FBI SAs tried to box Platt and Matix in, one vehicle in front, one behind, and one on the side, but things quickly went downhill from there. Originally the FBI never intended the car stop to turn into a demolition derby. No matter what the G men did, the crooks were willing to up the ante.

The stop was wholly unmanaged thus vehicles ended up too close to the bad guys, guns left unsecured on car seats "disappeared," agents with long/auto weapons never got to the scene 'til it was over, etc. S/A Grogan lost his eyeglasses and was essentially blind, too. Bear in mind the FBI knew the suspects were heavily armed and had used deadly force. None of the agents involved in the shootout had a rifle available. Other agents in the surveillance did but they were among those who arrived after the fact.

SAs McNeil and Mireles had shotguns, but yes, it did turn into quite a charlie foxtrot. As I've said, the FBI's long gun policy was criminal, and I'm glad to hear SIGP220 say that said policy has joined the dodo birds.

Absent S/A Mirales' truly heroics efforts, Platt and Mattix could have "won" the battle and escaped though both would likely have died soon thereafter.

They may have made it a short distance and I'm sure would have run over SA Hanlon. IMO both of their wound weren't surviveable. I agree about Mireles. The man has some serious "stones".

This was a battle that should not have been lost but was.

I don't believe it was a lost battle. The FBI achieved it's objective by getting those two sphincter muscles off the streets. I do agree that the price paid was tragic.

Perhaps, since I'm a grunt and not a cop I'm of a mindset that a slugfest even with heavy casualties was a reasonable way to achieve the goal of stopping those two if nothing better was available. Certainly the FBI agents never intended things to become such a mess, but just like when the Titanic sank, Murphy ruled the day and anything that could go wrong certainly seems to have. I do know that SA Grogan did say that "whoever finds those two first is going to have their hands full". I think the G men knew that these were likely to be the most violent, dangerous felons that they would encounter in their careers and would fight when an attemp was made to capture them. In a way the fight reminds me of when Ali and Frasier used to fight in the '70s. No matter who won, even the winner was guaranteed a prize of several days in the hospital.

 

[flop-shank]

Twenty four years ago, the 9mm ammo was not nearly as good as Federal hydra shock 147 grain is today, Would today's ammo make a difference ?

I doubt it.

 

[flop-shank]

What I learned (the FBI hasn't yet) is that giving a lawyer or accountant
a badge and a gun doesn't prepare him/her to make a traffic stop with
armed felons.

SA Risner was a Vietnam veteran, but I'm unaware as to what his MOS was, or what his service entailed. SA Mireles was a Marine and his performance clearly shows it. I'm not sure about the others.

 

[flop-shank]

One other lesson occurs to me that hasn't been mentioned. It's not so much from the shootout itself, but from an understanding of who Platt and Matix were and how they operated. In brief, they went to a relatively remote rock quarry where people would practice shooting. When they needed a getaway car, they would go there, find someone who was shooting alone, gun them down and take their car and weapons. Therefore the lesson would be, don't assume that because you are armed and at a range that criminals won't mark you, or your property as a target.

 

[Jellybean]

Many of the mistakes that were made could have been less traumatic if they had corrected one of them. No agent that was involved in the search, or even had a remote possibility that they would run into them, should have been armed with less than an equal to the Mini-14 carbine, and preferebly better. With that "Murphy" guy hanging around the possibility that any one agent could have encountered them alone is very real, in fact they might have all encountered them one at a time, but if they were each armed equal to them they would at least have a chance to survive even the worst of bad luck.


Every PD I ever worked for, and all but one that I knew of, provided shotguns in the cruisers for every officer. But they were hardly ever pulled out of the car regardless of the call or situation. It seems that cop mentality makes their handgun a death ray and it will kill everything it comes in contact with, and this applied to many former military men, of every service branch, too. But then how many depts. train their officers to use a shotgun or rifle as a primary weapon? Requalification in Ohio requires 60 rounds of handgun ammo, 10 rounds of buckshot and 5 slugs, and most officers hate that shotgun because of the recoil.

I think the first, and most important, lesson for civillians is that if you are only armed with a handgun, don't go looking for trouble, and do everything you can to avoid it because your handgun is underpowered and won't guarantee you a decisive victory.

 

[PeterCartwright]

I think the first, and most important, lesson for civillians is that if you are only armed with a handgun, don't go looking for trouble, and do everything you can to avoid it because your handgun is underpowered and won't guarantee you a decisive victory.

Now that strikes me as unassailably good sense! And it's certainly in harmony with Lobo's first reply.

To my law enforcement friends: I suppose there must be civilians who actually go looking for trouble while armed, though I've never spoken with anyone who was quite that brain dead...at least not any who spoke about such things openly. As for me, I'm more concerned about blundering into an armed shake down at a "stop-and-rob" or, perhaps more likely now, in a pharmacy. Anymore, I make a point of looking though whatever glass is available before I enter the former. Pharmacies (or, in the case of my wife, a stand alone clinic which houses meds) are more troubling. To add insult to injury, the clinic is a "no carry zone" in my state. In some settings, I suppose one should add car jacking and armed break ins to that list. In such cases, it would seem to me, circumstances and/or architecture could conspire to leave one as trapped as the Miami feds...perhaps with the same outcome. I guess the response I'll try to follow is to be as vigilant as possible so as to NOT blunder into trouble and to train as best I can to respond ruthlessly and skillfully if I find myself trapped.

PC