Two more Miami Beach cops caught behaving badly in the public eye have been relieved of duty.
One is accused of drinking, the other of recklessly speeding down a sandy stretch of beach.
Officers Eric Dominguez and Michael Veski are the latest in a list of Beach officers whose conduct have been publicly caught on video or seen by witnesses — later to the embarrassment of the force.
New Miami Beach Police Chief Ray Martinez said Friday the recent accusations against the officers were so "egregious" that he relieved them of duty pending the outcome of ongoing internal affairs investigations.
Martinez, who was sworn in on March 23, has vowed to reform the tainted department, whose reputation has taken a hit as a result of a litany of cases involving rogue cops. The officers will be paid while under suspension.
Dominguez was captured on video, posted on YouTube, driving his squad car so fast on a sandy South Beach stretch this month that, at one point, the car goes airborne.
His lights and sirens activated, Dominguez was responding to an "emergency police assist" call. The beach was crowded with tourists.
Several years ago, the city enacted strict rules prohibiting officers from driving recklessly following several serious accidents in which sunbathers were killed or injured by police officers driving on the sand.
Internal affairs investigators also are looking into allegations that Officer Michael Veski, who was off duty, was drinking a beer while riding as a passenger in his own marked squad car. Investigators still are trying to determine who was driving. A witness told police that he saw Veski's patrol car parked in front of David's Cafe on Collins Avenue last weekend.
The witness, a postal inspector who was also off duty, said he observed Veski exit the passenger's side of the car with a beer in his hand, then enter the restaurant.
Veski, a seven-year-veteran, was demoted from his sergeant's post.
Alex Bello, president of Miami Beach's Fraternal Order of Police, said he was "extremely disappointed" that the officers were removed from duty based on unproven allegations. Veski, he said, had not even had a chance to give investigators a statement.
Bello said Martinez's actions were premature and politically motivated.
"It's unfortunate that politics is rearing its ugly head," Bello said. "The city manager and police chief know that their jobs are on the line and they are relieving [the officers] of duty without due process.''
Both Martinez and City Manager Jorge Gonzalez have been tasked to overhaul and restore credibility to the department, which has been the focus of a number of state attorney investigations.
In 2007, an FDLE investigator accused Veski of lying about a wrong-way crash involving a Miami Beach police sergeant suspected of drunken driving. According to the allegations, Veski tried to help the sergeant get home, but when the sergeant, Jesse Barrenechea, demanded to drive himself home, Veski and another officer let him off on the side of the Julia Tuttle Causeway. Barrenechea later drove the wrong way on Interstate 95, crashing almost head-on into another vehicle. He was eventually sentenced to probation.
Veski, however, was not investigated, as Miami Beach internal affairs ruled that FDLE failed to present enough evidence that he committed any wrongdoing.
Over the past year, the Miami Beach Police Department has gained unwanted scrutiny for the exploits of several officers, including one who ran over two people during a drunken ATV joyride; two who were fired for assaulting gays, and several others who tried to rough up people who tried to capture them on cameras. A group of officers also were accused in a deadly shooting of an erratic driver during last year's Urban Beach Weekend, an annual hip-hop and rap music festival held on South Beach on Memorial Day weekend. The driver, who police contend was armed, was shot more than 100 times by a cadre of cops, four from Hialeah and seven from Miami Beach, who surrounded his car and opened fire with automatic weapons.
"Part of my charge as the new chief of police is to reform the department and ensure greater accountability of our officers. This is the first step in the process," Martinez said in a statement Friday.
He added that he was "very confident" that the evidence is strong enough to merit his swift actions. He would not, however, elaborate, saying the cases were still open.
Miami Herald staff writer David Smiley contributed to this report.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
No comments:
Post a Comment