An exchange of gunfire left a Sunrise police officer shot in the leg and a suspect shot in the groin back in 2024.
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Romuliss Hicks, 34, is on trial, accused of pulling the trigger and shooting Det. Robert Padron as Padron and other officers executed an arrest warrant on Jan. 2, 2024.
“He pulls out the black firearm and points it at me,” Padron said after taking the stand Thursday. “When I started perceiving that, that’s when I lifted my rifle, and there was an exchange of gunfire.”
It all unfolded at a busy bus stop in Fort Lauderdale along Northwest 22nd Avenue near Broward Boulevard. No one else was injured.
Video from Padron’s police body-worn camera showed the moment he was hit and dropped to the ground.
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Padron told jurors he had four surgeries to save his leg.
“It went through my femur, the bone; it also severed a vein which returns blood back from the foot,” said Padron, who also said he takes blood thinners and wears compression to help with blood flow.
Other police body-worn camera video showed officers tending to Hicks, who was wearing a mask at the time.
Hicks is charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
The arrest warrant that led law enforcement to Hicks that day came from an incident a few days prior when Hicks shot his then-girlfriend and mother of his child.
Hicks was tried on that case a few months ago, found guilty and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
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