ORLANDO, Fla. – A grand jury has cleared six Orlando police officers of any criminal wrongdoing in the 2023 death of a man accused of several crimes, including shooting two other Orlando officers.
Daton Viel was killed following a standoff in August 2023 at a hotel in the International Drive area.
Viel was accused of shooting two Orlando police officers while they investigated a vehicle linked to a July murder in Miami.
The six police officers tracked Viel to a Holiday Inn on Grand Caravan Court and tried to serve an arrest warrant for the shooting. That led to a standoff as a crisis negotiation team tried to get Viel to leave his hotel room peacefully.
Eventually, a SWAT team breached Viel’s room and after, Viel reportedly left the room with a gun. The officers shot and killed him.
The state attorney’s office said the grand jury met on July 31, reviewed all “relevant evidence” and determined criminal charges for each officer were not warranted.
Viel’s case led to the suspension of State Attorney Monique Worrell. Gov. Ron DeSantis accused her of incompetence related to this and other cases.
But Viel was under Florida Department of Corrections supervision while serving probation for crimes committed in Georgia, state records show. He was then arrested in March 2023 for sexual battery charges. For some reason, his probation wasn’t revoked for his arrest. He was allowed to post bond on the sexual battery charges and was fitted with an electronic monitoring device.
Records show DOC officials learned in June 2023 that Viel had cut off the device and moved out of his aunt’s house without telling his probation officer.
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