Florida -- Thanks for coming up to John's to visit Roy. We had some great times and you're a brilliant fellow. (2006)

Please see below for a 2008 update. RIP Roy. You were a good man. First | Previous Picture | Next Picture | Last | Thumbnails

I just learned that Roy was Killed by Miami's finest. Here is an article from yahoo's cache. It has been pulled from both the Miami Herald's website, and google's site cache. Very odd it seems to me. Thanks Yahoo!

You'd argue the physics of which way is really up, but you wouldn't fight over anything. The police report said the police (Andrew Mesa) acted in self-defense. The witnesses, all casual acquaintances (neighbors) say you were un-armed, but they are being dismissed by the police as hostile witnesses. Even if you were armed with a butcher knife and the police claim, one shot by a threatened officer could be self defense. Two, maybe. FIVE, I have to say you must have simply pissed off an Andrew Mesa and he almost unloaded his gun on you. I know you were smarter than he. You were smarter than all of us. I wish you hadn't mouthed off to this punk officer. Of course a little professionalism would have gone a long way too.

There aren't many facts, but the photos and some witnesses indicate the locked fence was also between you and officer Mesa. I know how smart you are and it is brought up in many of the interviews. The police story that one of the smartest people I know would attack several armed police, with maybe a knife simply does not read like fact. God Bless you Roy-
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Man shot by police was former sailor

The man fatally shot by Miami police Monday night was a retired yacht captain who one friend said helped develop a radar system for the U.S. Navy in Hawaii in the 1950s.

Roy Leutwyler, 70, was shot and killed after police say he charged Officer Andrew Mesa, 24, with a large butcher knife.

Mesa and other officers had been called to an apartment complex at 2490 NW North River Dr. after a neighbor called 911 at 7:35 p.m. to report ''a violent man screaming and waving a gun,'' said Miami Lt. Bill Schwartz, a spokesman.

''It's a clear case of self-defense. No cop wants to kill another person but there are instances when we don't have the luxury of time,'' Schwartz said.

Leutwyler had lived in the river-front building for three years.

Born in New Jersey, Leutwyler worked in Hawaii developing an early-attack radar defense system with the Navy, then later became a subcontractor for electronics company RCA, said pal Randy Knauss.

Leutwyler's wife died of cancer in the 1960s. He never remarried.

Afterward, he moved to Miami and captained sail boats navigating the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

Later, he worked repairing electronics systems for yachts before retiring.

''He was a real genius. The guy was real intelligent -- like Einstein,'' said Knauss, who also lives in the building.

Leutwyler was known for tipping his glass when neighbors walked past, and occasionally howling at the moon in jest. Leutwyler usually had a drink in hand.

''Rum -- he was a sailor,'' Knauss said.

''If ever saw him without a drink, I would think it wasn't him,'' said neighbor Sandra Trotter.

Neighbors and friends could not remember Leutwyler causing trouble.

On Monday night, he and at least two other men had been drinking in front of his apartment near the stairwell, behind the front gate, when he began arguing with a neighbor.

Leutwyler lived in Apartment 2. He was shot dead outside Apartment 1, near the complex's front door.

Mirta Gonzalez, an upstairs neighbor, heard Leutwyler cussing at officers.

''He wasn't a delinquent. He wasn't a killer,'' she said. ``This was abuse by the police.''

Knauss, who lives upstairs too, heard a ''ruckus'' and glimpsed an agitated Leutwyler running, his arms outstretched. Knauss couldn't see a knife and did not see the officers.

''I looked outside, saw him on the ground and thought he had tripped,'' said Knaus, who said he heard about five shots.

Leutwyler was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where doctors pronounced him dead.

The investigation is being handled by Miami's internal affairs unit.

Mesa, a two year-veteran who patrols Allapattah, was placed on administrative leave, which is routine in police-involved shootings.

''From everything we're hearing, it appears it was self-defense,'' said Armando Aguilar, president of Miami's Fraternal Order of Police.

Postings on Article:

Another trigger happy cop!A lethal weapon firing five shots to a 70 years old drunk fart.Self defense?Give me a break.

Well,another instance of a Latino cop killing black and white Americans. Somebody please do some checking on this awful statistic and say it's not really happening here in Miami.The fact is it is true.

etc...

I don't know how long the blog will be there. They've pulled the article.

Well, it's been a week since news of Roy's Murder reached me in Seattle. At first, I thought it was a conspiracy because the article was pulled from the Miami Herald's website and google's cache version no longer had it. I don't know what google's problem was, but they now show the article. The Herald was probably in the process of moving it from News to Archived articles.

In looking over the facts, several seem apparent, and some are not facts, but opinions. The Police officers I was on news clips were every bit as quick to offer opinions lacking evidence as I and Roy's friends are to offer unsubstantiated facts.

Roy has no family to pursue this issue. It will probably be swept under the carpet shortly.
The police say it was clearly a case of self defense. While we all find it difficult to believe that Roy (or any sane person) would try to assault a group of police with only a knife, it is an indisputable fact that the last three of the five shots were probably not self defense. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Come on, please stop firing at a 155 lb, 71 year old man at some point! I understand the officers are to make body shots, not this "wing them" stuff, but 5 body shots?
Detective Willie Moreno reports the day after the incident that it was clearly a case of self defense. It is irresponsible for anyone to state conclusions like that without a proper investigation (which will probably never happen now). It is clear that Detective Willie Moreno has very little training in logic and posses little in the way of rational thinking. At that time, that was an emotion based statement. Moreno is just covering for his people (police) and failing to protect his real people (the citizenry).
Opinion: I've worked in engineering for several corporate giants. Roy was one of the most intelligent people I know. The other testimonies in the articles I've read all had that in common, calling him genius. My 2006 picture of Roy mentions his intelligence in the two sentences I penned. His brilliance was remarkable and really stood out. Attacking a group of armed police is not a smart thing and defies any behavior we would ascribe to Roy. At least Armondo Aguilar brackets his statements as with "From everything we're hearing." Thank you, but please ask if Mesa has what it takes to be a police officer.
What is not clear is the positioning of all the parties. I've heard the police were actually outside of the locked gate and shot through it. If that is the case, the self defense case of the police gets very weak.
Roy was not only brilliant, he had a smart mouth and a sharp tongue. This I won't argue, nor will anyone who knows him! :) I do not doubt that when encountered by Miami Police, Roy could within 10 seconds say something to INFURIATE at least one officer. This is where the professionalism and maturity of an officer becomes vital. If it were lacking, the series of events that could quickly unfold encompasses many options. The hail of gunfire from one officer makes me think Roy pressed his button- HARD! It is very unfortunate, but Mesa needs to consider other lines of work. It is unfortunate for the officer, but not nearly as unfortunate as it was for Roy. As for the scenario where the 71 year old man with huge intelligence charges a group of armed officers, possibly with a knife, I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. I would believe the knife was retrieved from Roy's kitchen after the fact. All witnesses other than the officers have been dismissed as "hostile witnesses". I watched all the videos and did not see the testimony that others offered that he was armed or chasing police.
Yes, Roy does have one very old firearm charge in his history. First let me present an excerpt from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations :

By this indulgence of the public, the smuggler is often encouraged to continue a trade which he is thus taught to consider as in some measure innocent, and when the severity of the revenue laws is ready to fall upon him, he is frequently disposed to defend with violence what he has been accustomed to regard as his just property. From being at first, perhaps, rather imprudent than criminal, he at last too often becomes one of the hardiest and most determined violators of the laws of society. By the ruin of the smuggler, his capital, which had before been employed in maintaining productive labour, is absorbed either in the revenue of the state or in that of the revenue officer, and is employed in maintaining unproductive, to the diminution of the general capital of the society and of the useful industry which it might otherwise have maintained. (Adam Smith, 1773 A.D.)

As I understand it, Roy was arrested once for smuggling some marijuana from Jamaica. In addition to the herb, there was a gun found on his vessel. He served 4 times the smuggling sentence because it was commissioned w/ a gun on board the boat.

There certainly is a lot of info in the blog that indicates Miami's racial tension has decayed since I left 20 years ago. The blacks always complained of the police. I remember the Liberty Town Riots. Now the whites are complaining too. I understand elements of the police are steroid pumping, south-beach wanna-be's. They are "Soldiers in the War on Crime". What ever happened to the "Peace Officer Mentality"?
I am still waiting for more information and would like anyone to post any they have on the Herald's blog, or contact me directly.
As for the posting by "A COP" that says "LESS YOU HAVE WALKED IN OUR 'FLAT SHOES,' SHUT THE DUCK UP!" you are part of the problem. Please read the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Idiot...