Yalik Miller being held in jail without bond
A 24-year-old Bradenton man has been charged with one count each of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm and Aggravated Assault with a Weapon without Intent to Kill, following an April 16 shooting at the intersection of 23rd Street and Dixie Avenue in Sarasota, the Sarasota Police Department has reported.
The incident occurred just after 8 p.m., the Probable Cause Affidavits note.
Yalik Rashhion Miller of 2224 12th St. W. in Bradenton is being held without bond in the Sarasota County Jail, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division records show. (Those records cite 4140 Breakwater Drive in Bradenton as his address.) His arraignment is scheduled for May 20, the records note.
Miller also has been charged with violation of probation, the Corrections Division records say.
He was arrested at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, the affidavits add.
The narrative in the Probable Cause Affidavits, written by Det. Dominic Harris, explains that when another detective asked Harris to respond to the scene of the shooting, Harris learned that one of the alleged shooters “was detained and transported to the police station, and two other male subjects were at Sarasota Memorial Hospital” with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. One of the latter individuals “suffered one gunshot to his left lower thigh,” Harris wrote in the affidavit involving the aggravated assault charge.
Following their interviews with persons involved in the incident, the affidavits say, the detectives agreed that probable cause existed to charge Miller with aggravated assault because he “intentionally and unlawfully threatened, either by word or act, to do violence” to a person whose name was redacted in the affidavit. “The act of Yalik Miller created in the mind of [the unnamed individual] a well-founded fear that the violence was about to take place. The assault was made with a deadly weapon,” that affidavit adds.
In the aggravated battery affidavit, Det. Harris wrote that, based on the investigation, Miller also “intentionally touched or struck [an unidentified male person]” against that individual’s will. Again, the affidavit pointed out, “Miller used a handgun.”
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Det. Dominic Harris at 941-263-6825; leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 941-366-TIPS; or go online at www.sarasotacrimestoppers.com, the Police Department news release says.
Past charges for Miller
A Sarasota News Leader search of 12th Judicial Circuit Court records for Miller found he had been charged in four other cases, dating back to August 2017.
One incident resulted in three counts against him: Grand Theft Auto, larceny of more than $300 but less than $5,000, and burglary of a vehicle.
In other incidents, 12th Judicial Circuit Court records show, Miller was charged with battery on an officer or firefighter; driving without a license; resisting an officer via a high-speed vehicle pursuit; and improper adjustment of headlights.
In the battery case, which occurred just after 9 p.m. on March 20, 2021 at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds, the Probable Cause Affidavit narrative said that one officer — whose name was redacted — was escorting a second officer, who had a suspect in custody following an active shooter situation. Miller stood in front of them on a path and refused to move, the affidavit noted. Miller ended up pushing the unidentified officer, according to the report.
When officers attempted to place Miller in custody, the affidavit continued, Miller “took a fighting stance and pushed [the unnamed officer] in the face” and then to the ground.
Miller ended up on top of that officer, who “gave [Miller] several lawful commands to stop resisting,” the affidavit pointed out. Finally, the unidentified officer “conducted a hip thrust and lifted [Miller] off the ground,” the affidavit said.
An officer then was able to handcuff Miller, the affidavit added.
Miller told one officer that the reason he pushed the other officer was because the latter officer did not say, “Excuse me,” the affidavit noted.
In that case, a judge Jan. 19 sentenced Miller to 30 days in jail and ordered him to serve 12 months of probation, court records show.
The case that entailed the Grand Theft Auto charge, plus the burglary of a vehicle and theft of money from the vehicle, was reported on Feb. 28, 2019, 12th Judicial Circuit Court records show. Those incidents occurred in North Port, the Probable Cause Affidavit said.
The female victim in that case acknowledged that she had left the keys inside her 2017 Kia Cadenza, which was parked in her driveway, when she went out about 11:30 p.m. to walk her dog.
The next morning — just after 6 a.m. — when she came out of her home, she reported, the vehicle was gone.
She said that she had left her purse inside the Kia, and it contained “various credit cards and prescription medications,” the affidavit continued. She also had left a laptop computer, valued at $1,500, inside the vehicle, the affidavit noted.
On March 3, the Kia was located on the southeast corner of 19th street and Central Avenue in Sarasota, the affidavit continued. “It had extensive damage,” with Sarasota Police Department officers having determined that it had been involved in a hit-and-run crash that occurred earlier the same day, the affidavit said.
Police Department personnel reported finding Miller’s fingerprints on the interior and exterior of the vehicle, the affidavit added.
The victim completed a sworn written statement, the affidavit continued, attesting to the fact that she had not authorized anyone to use the Kia, “nor did she know Yalik R. Miller.”
The laptop never was recovered, the affidavit noted.
On May 14, 2020, the State Attorney’s Office for the 12th Judicial District filed a Nolle Prosequi form in that case. As the Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute explains, Nolle Prosequi “translates to ‘not to wish to prosecute.” A prosecutor files such a notice when he or she decides to abandon prosecution of a case, the Legal Information Institute points out.