personal injury law

Published on: July 28, 2025

Therapist at Miami Substance Abuse Facility Faces Sexual Misconduct Charges. What to Know.

A therapist at a Miami women’s mental health and substance abuse treatment facility faces several charges after multiple women reported that he assaulted them during private sessions, according to local media.

Manuel Enrique Garcia, 33, was charged with at least three counts of felony charges related to sexual battery on clients.

Two women reported to police, alleging Garcia had assaulted them during private therapy sessions, according to reporting from CBS Miami. One woman said she was threatened with “job loss and homelessness if she spoke out,” reporters said in the article. Another woman told police that she was assaulted and that Garcia threatened to change her records to harm her standing in court, which would prevent her from “reuniting with her child.” This was not the only time that Garcia had approached the woman in this manner, according to police.

Published on: July 28, 2025

Florida Mom Accused of Leaving Toddler in Car Outside Theater. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

Police have accused a mother of locking her toddler, 2, in a car outside a Florida movie theater when the girl became too “disruptive,” according to reporting from local media Monday, July 21.

The 18-year-old woman, of Lake City, has since been charged with neglect of a child without great bodily harm. The woman’s name is not being released to protect the identity of her children.

The incident happened on Saturday, July 19, when the mother took the toddler and her siblings to the movies. However, once inside, the 2-year-old girl allegedly caused “multiple disruptions.”

Published on: June 25, 2025

Man Killed in Officer-Involved Shooting Named by Police in Miami. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

Police have named the man who was killed in an officer-involved shooting following a chase in North Miami-Dade as 24-year-old Kristofer Lazaro Laboy.

Laboy, who was driving a yellow Corvette, is said to have fled from deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office when they attempted to conduct a traffic stop Tuesday afternoon. The traffic stop was initiated near Northwest 62^nd Street and Northwest 22^nd Avenue.

Police initiated the stop because of illegal tints on his car windows, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. What ensued was a chase that lasted for about a mile — involving a helicopter to help police track down the car — and ended in an apartment community near Northwest Fourth Court and Northwest 85^th Street.

Published on: May 14, 2025

Washington Boy, 13, Killed in E-Bike-Related Incident; Leesfield & Partners’ Outspoken History with Micromobility Devices.

By Leesfield & Partners

A family has lost their 13-year-old son after he hit a metal cable in a “freak accident” while riding his e-bike through the neighborhood, according to local media.

Emiliano Munoz, of Everett, Washington, was playing with friends at a neighborhood field on May 2. As he left on his e-bike, he took a shortcut through a yard where he did not see a braided cable strung up between two bollards in the grass.

The boy ran into the cable and cut his vocal cords, a spokesperson for the family told local media.

Published on: March 13, 2025

Medical Examiner Concludes Detroit Children Found Dead in Frigid Van Died of Carbon Monoxide.

By Leesfield & Partners

A Detroit medical examiner concluded that two unhoused children found dead in their family’s van died from carbon monoxide and not the cold, as authorities initially believed.

The official cause of death for the children, 9-year-old Darnell Currie Jr. and 2-year-old A’millah Currie, was certified Wednesday. On Feb. 10, the children were found unresponsive in the family van by their mother after the vehicle stopped running. The children, their mother, their grandmother, two siblings and their mother’s sibling were allegedly living in the van at the time, according to reporting from The Detroit Free Press.

The five children in the van ranged in age from 2 to 13 years old.

Published on: March 4, 2025

Man Injured in Officer-Involved Shooting in Miami-Dade County. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A Miami detective shot a man at an apartment complex in West Miami-Dade County Wednesday night while conducting a “proactive detail” with a multi-agency task force, according to reporting from the Miami Herald.

The incident happened around 10 p.m. at 9599 Fontainebleau Blvd. Neither the man nor the detective, who investigates robberies, have been named as of Thursday.

The man is expected to be OK, a Miami Police Department spokesperson told the newspaper. The detective was not injured in the shooting.

Published on: February 19, 2025

Broward County High School Teacher Faces Felony Charge After Student Reports ‘Disturbing Messages.’

By Leesfield & Partners

A teacher with the Broward County School District is facing felony charges after allegedly soliciting an 11^th grader, police say.

Lem McKinney, 40, of Broward County, was charged with a second-degree felony Tuesday after police said he solicited a student to engage in sexual conduct via social media. If convicted of the charge, penalties could include a fine of up to $10,000 and/or up to 15 years in prison.

McKinney was a social science teacher at J.P. Taravella High School, a public school located in Coral Springs.

Published on: February 19, 2025

Florida Doctor Faces Complaints After Man Dies Following Cosmetic Procedure. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A doctor is facing complaints after a man was left with holes in his chest muscle and later died due to cosmetic procedure, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The administrative complaint against the Fort Lauderdale doctor claims that “the patient ultimately died as a result” of the liposuction, which allegedly left perforations throughout the 58-year-old’s chest. The procedure involved VASER, a type of ultrasound with vibration amplification of sound at resonance in January 2021. The patient then returned in 2022 “for a repeat,” according to reporting from the Miami Herald this week.

Repetitive VASER-assisted liposuction comes with risks such as infection, bleeding, never damage and scarring, which can cause perforation. The complaint alleges that the doctor “failed to document any discussion” with the patient about the additional risks associated with a repeated procedure.

Published on: February 10, 2025

Nurses Union Lifts the Veil on ‘Death Trap Elevators’ at Miami Hospital. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

Elevators plunging several floors due to a malfunction have injured at least 12 people at The Miami VA Medical Center, an issue that has gone on for more than two years, the Miami Herald reported this week.

The elevators vacillate through the 12-story building, carrying nurses, patients and visitors alike.

In a phone interview with the newspaper, Bill Frogameni, who is a registered nurse at the veteran’s hospital and is the director of National Nurses United Miami VA chapter, said the hospital is meant o be a “place of healing.”

Published on: January 24, 2025

Florida Child, 11, Dies after Hit by Car While Walking from School Bus Stop, police say

By Leesfield & Partners

A sixth grader who was it by a car while walking away from her school bus died Thursday from her injuries, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The 11-year-old girl was dropped off by her school bus around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon in Brooksville, a city in Hernando County about 50 miles north of Tampa, when a woman, 65, in a Toyota Corolla hit her. The child was walking north along the unpaved and unmarked road at the time of the crash, according to reporting from the Miami Herald. It was not immediately clear if the woman was speeding.

The child was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. She died Thursday.