Badges - Miami Beach cop, in ATV crash with 3 injured, was allegedly drinking

From: Charles Rahn <c.t.rahn@xxxxxxxx>
To: Badges 1Badge <badges@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 14:59:05 -0400
Miami Beach cop, in ATV crash with 3 injured, was allegedly drinkingBy David 
Smiley and Diana Moskovitz, The Miami HeraldThe Miami Herald11:26 p.m. EDT, 
July 3, 2011A Miami Beach police officer who authorities say struck two people 
with his department ATV Sunday morning on the sands of South Beach was 
allegedly drinking on the job and joyriding with a woman at the time of the 
crash.

Miami Beach Police Chief Carlos Noriega said the officer involved in the crash, 
which happened in the dark about 5:15 a.m. near Fourth Street, was supposed to 
be patrolling the beach Sunday because of a recent spate of thefts.

"I was told he lost control and struck a couple people on the beach," he said.

But Noriega acknowledged that police and investigators with the Miami-Dade 
State Attorney's Office are looking into allegations that the officer had been 
drinking Sunday morning at a bar at The Clevelander hotel on Ocean Drive with 
another officer who should have been patrolling Mid-Beach. He also confirmed 
that investigators are looking into whether the officer was riding at the time 
of the crash with a female passenger whom he had allegedly picked up at the bar.

"We have not been able to prove that he, in fact, was drinking as of yet," 
Noriega said. "And if I could confirm that, I would fire him right now."

Police have not released the name of the officer involved in the crash, nor the 
officer who was allegedly shirking his duties in Mid-Beach.

The officer on the ATV struck two people, a man and a woman. Police spokeswoman 
Officer Deborah Doty said that afterward three people were taken to hospital. 
One woman was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center. Another 
woman was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center, where she was treated and 
released. The man also was taken to Mount Sinai, she said.

A police press release stated that all three injured in the crash were 
civilians.

City leaders say they want swift and serious punishment for both officers if 
the allegations are true.

"This is a complete abandonment of common sense," said City Manager Jorge 
Gonzalez, who said Noriega told him Sunday morning that investigators were 
awaiting the results of blood tests to determine whether the officer was drunk.

"We'll see what the statements say, but I find it hard to find legitimate 
reasons why an on-duty officer would be doing whatever he was doing at The 
Clevelander if it?s an accurate allegation. And there?s no reason why anybody 
should be driving anybody on an ATV anywhere."

Mayor Matti Herrera Bower said "I'm very upset about it. This is not something 
that should have happened. They?re supposed to be protecting the beach, not 
drinking."

Gonzalez said both officers have been on the force for several years. "They 
haven't been on my radar screen as far as problem officers," he said.

He said the man and woman hit on the beach were "tourists or visitors to Miami 
Beach."

Noriega said the officer involved in the crash has been relieved of duty 
pending the results of the different investigations into the crash. Noriega 
said he will move quickly -- "I'm talking the next couple of days" -- to punish 
either officer if investigators find they violated any department policies 
Sunday.

The Sunday crash follows weeks of scrutiny on the department after police shot 
and killed a visitor on Memorial Day, during the heavily attended Urban Beach 
Week.

Early on May 30, about a dozen police officers shot and killed a driver after 
he allegedly tried to run down officers with his car on Collins Avenue. The 
shooting was captured by multiple bystanders on their cell phone cameras, and 
within a few hours images of what happened began appearing on YouTube.

Witnesses said shots were fired from inside the car, and days after the 
shooting investigators found a gun in Raymond Herisse?s Hyundai on the 
floorboard beneath the reclined driver?s seat. They have not yet confirmed 
whether shots were fired.

Officers also were accused that morning of snatching a witness' cell phone 
camera and stomping on it, which police denied through a press release that 
included a picture of the phone with only a few small cracks on the screen. 
Police also were accused briefly seizing a WPLG-ABC 10 newsman?s camera.
Badges - Miami Beach cop, in ATV crash with 3 injured, was allegedly drinking

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