MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida mother who went into early labor after she was allegedly kicked in the stomach by an off-duty North Miami Beach Police officer is sharing her account of the incident that cost the cop her job. 7News cameras captured Evoni Murray as she held her newborn son Joseph, Monday afternoon. “Six pounds, 4 ounces,” she said, sharing the baby’s birth weight. The new mother said she feels relieved that the terrible situation she and her boyfriend, Joseph Predelus, went through in Miami Beach last week led to a happy outcome. “I’m grateful ’cause he’s a blessing,” she said. “I’m grateful because he’s OK.” Murray was eight months pregnant when, police said, North Miami Beach Police Officer Ambar Pacheco kicked her in the stomach during an altercation in South Beach. Pacheco was arrested and has since been terminated from her department. “Anything could have happened,” said Murray. Murray said she and Predelus were walking along Washington Avenue on Wednesday when they crossed paths with Pacheco. “Just looking at him, what if I didn’t have him?” said Murray. “Then what? The situation would have been different.” What happened next is not clear, but Murray was left in pain and Pacheco was taken into custody. “That’s why I’m trying to wait for the Miami Beach Police Department to figure it out for me,” said Murray. “I wish I was a mind reader, but I’m not.” Murray started to go into labor weeks before her due date of Aug. 4 and prematurely delivered Joseph. “The pain was really — it was shock,” she said. “I really didn’t have no understanding of anything. I just wanted to make sure my baby was safe.” Murray said she is touched by the community’s help. Her family will continue to need the community’s support. “My big concern is that she’s OK, and baby Joe is doing all right,” said Predelus “and, again, I’d just like to thank the community.” “Listen, I’ve gotten phone calls all the way from India. It’s crazy,” said Murray. She also said it’s a strange experience to suddenly find herself in the public eye. “It was so funny. I was in the hospital and, as soon as I had him, I walked to the nursery. I was just being funny, and I said, ‘Little man, you’ve got to make Mommy famous. Come on now,'” she said. “The next morning, I’m on Channel 7.” Through it all, Murray said she’s certain this is a life challenge she will be able to take on. “You don’t know what life hands at you. It’s always frightening — pregnancy, labor,” she said. “That’s something that’s always scary for a woman, to feel like your baby’s in danger because of a tragic situation. That’s a whole other traumatic level.” Pacheco is facing a charge of battery on a pregnant victim.<doc-sep>Ambar Pacheco, 26, was with her 21-year-old sister on a busy street corner on South Beach when a fight started between them and Evoni Murray and Joseph Predelus, according to the Miami Herald. The reason the fight started is unclear; however, Pacheco told Miami Beach police that her sister was kicked in the face by Predelus, 40, the Herald reported.<doc-sep>MIAMI, Florida -- A pregnant woman says a violent encounter with an off-duty Florida police officer put her in premature labor, WSVN-TV reports.Miami Beach police say a mom went into premature labor after she was kicked in the stomach by an off duty north Miami Beach police officer. "It was stressful to go through it and luckily we got to Mount Sinai just in the nick of time because it only took seven minutes for the labor," said Joseph Predulus, the baby's father,After the attack, she started having contractions. "You should have been more professional. Like I said we had no problems with you," Predulus said about the officer. "We didn't come to start any trouble. "Predulus believes the officer was intoxicated during the incident. "They probably was drunk," he said. "As I was talking to the police, I realized they were drunk, so I guess the alcohol probably kicked in. Like I said, we were minding our own business, just walked by, and I was talking to my baby mother, said she was so emotional, and the girl figured that she was talking to them. Like I said, she came towards, talking about, 'What that be said?' and then tried to attack her. "Despite the attack, baby Joe appears to be healthy and he is expected to be okay. "When he was born, it put a smile on my face, and all my concern was if he was healthy," Predelus said.The North Miami Police Department put out a statement saying Officer Pacheco has been relieved of duty pending an internal affairs review.<doc-sep>
An off-duty police officer accused of kicking a woman who was eight months pregnant in the stomach has been fired, police officials said. The North Miami Beach Police Department announced Friday that Ambar Pacheco, 26, had been “terminated immediately” after she was arrested and charged with aggravated battery in South Beach late Wednesday. Police Chief William Hernandez announced Pacheco’s firing on the department’s social media accounts. The incident, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Miami Herald, happened after a confrontation between Pacheco and her 21-year-old sister, Mikaela Pacheco, and another couple identified as Evoni Murray, 27 — who was pregnant — and Joseph Predelus, 40. Ambar Pacheco told responding officers that Predelus kicked her sister in the face, prompting her to react, according to the affidavit. “I saw red and beat the s—t out of [Murray],” Pacheco told an arresting officer. Exactly how the fight started isn’t clear, but Ambar Pacheco later told an officer that “she doesn’t know who, but she kicked somebody,” according to the affidavit. Pacheco, who had been employed by the department for less than a year, was on probationary status at the time of the incident. She was later relieved of her duties with pay until the culmination of an internal affairs probe, North Miami Beach police told the newspaper. Pacheco, according to county court records, has had one prior arrest in Miami-Dade County, where she was booked at 18 for petit theft. She was later referred to a pre-trial diversion program, the Herald reports. Murray, meanwhile, was transported to a hospital following the incident and delivered a healthy baby, a Miami Beach police spokesman told the newspaper. Murray had been due to give birth on Aug. 4, WSVN reports. Predulus was by his girlfriend’s side as she gave birth to their son, Joe, 10 days earlier than expected — and there was hardly any time to spare, he said. “It was stressful because I had to go through it,” Predulus told the station. “Luckily, we had got her to Mount Sinai just in time because it only took seven minutes for the labor.” Predulus said his son and Murray have since been released from the hospital and are back home at their residence in Miami’s Liberty City section. “When he was born, it put a smile on my face,” Predulus said. “All my concern is that he was happy.”