ORLANDO, Fla. — A grand jury has indicted a Florida deputy on a second-degree felony for shooting a motorcyclist in December 2020.
CBS affiliate WKMG reports Orange County Deputy Bruce Stolk shot 18-year-old motorcyclist Edenilson Urbina in the leg after the man ran behind an apartment complex during a traffic stop on Kingsgate Drive in Orlando. Urbina was treated at the hospital and survived.
While Orange County Sheriff John Mina had said at the time that Deputy Stolk pulled the trigger because he thought Urbina might've reached for a gun, WKMG reports body camera video and a subsequent investigation led to questions about that. The video doesn't show a weapon, and one wasn't mentioned in the initial arrest affidavit. As the investigation went on, prosecutors dropped misdemeanor counts against Urbina, who had been charged with resisting an officer.
Now, Deputy Stolk is the one facing the legal system.
In an email, the Office of the State Attorney referenced its officer-involved critical incident policy, which states “where there are factual issues that must be resolved, those cases will be referred to the Grand Jury to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to justify an indictment.”
When the case went before the grand jury, the jurors decided there was sufficient evidence to justify formally charging the deputy. Stolk was indicted Friday for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years or more in prison.
"We will seek whatever outcome justice requires," the state attorney's office wrote in a statement.
Stolk, who was put on leave after the shooting, had been with the sheriff's office since 2017, according to WESH-TV.
