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Recent Blog Posts in September 2009 |
| September 24, 2009 |
| Crime Down Slightly In Broward and Palm Beach County |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
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Crime in Broward and Palm Beach counties decreased slightly during the
first half of this year, compared to the first half of 2008, according
to statistics compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
that were released Wednesday.
The state agency keeps track of the crimes of murder, robbery,
aggravated assault, forcible sex offenses, burglary, larceny and auto theft; it uses the mid-year statistics as a barometer for the rest of
the year.
Both Broward and Palm Beach counties recorded an overall crime decrease
of about 4 percent. Both counties saw slight decreases or increases in
each of the categories, except for auto theft.
In Broward, auto thefts declined 16 percent, and in Palm Beach County, reports were down 25 percent.
The statistics reflect an 8 percent overall decrease in crime statewide.
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| September 09, 2009 |
| Two Broward cops get probation after guilty verdict |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
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| A Broward judge today sentenced two former Lauderhill police officers each to a year of probation for falsifying reports to say a driver was a belligerent aggressor who tried to kick out a patrol car window during a Feb. 8, 2008, traffic stop. Miranda Decker, 23, and Emanouel Legakis, 28, were each convicted in July by a Broward County jury of official misconduct and falsifying reports. The jury acquitted the pair of battery. Decker stopped driver Clayon Jones for running a stop sign. The traffic stop turned ugly, prosecutor Jeannette Camacho said, when Decker became hostile after Jones asked why he was being stopped, questioned the officer's rude demeanor and asked to read the citation. Jones, 30, of Pompano Beach, testified during the trial that although he remained calm, Decker slammed the car door on his leg, grabbed him, cuffed him, squeezed his throat and threatened him with additional charges. When Legakis arrived, Jones said the officer punched him near the jaw. In their police reports, the officers downplayed their aggression, Camacho said, and sought to justify their actions by portraying Jones as an argumentative aggressor who refused to obey commands and tried to kick the window out of a patrol car. The Police Department terminated Decker and Legakis on March 14, 2008. Before sentencing, both defendants professed their innocence and despair at losing their law-enforcement jobs, careers they had yearned for their entire lives. "Police officers don't normally drive around and pick on people," Legakis said. "We are trained to react, not to act. [Jones] reacted in a certain way, and we reacted in a certain way." Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato withheld formal felony convictions from the former cops' criminal records, saying she was troubled by the case. She did not believe Jones' version of the events, Imperato said, but would not go against a jury's verdict. "It hurts that she didn't believe me," Jones said afterward. "I don't feel too pleased with the outcome, but it is what it is, and the judge made a decision. To me, this is like a slap on the wrist." Jones' wife, Michelle, 39, said she believed the judge let her former career as a police officer influence the sentences she chose to impose. "They say cops are like a brotherhood," Michelle Jones said. "It makes you wonder who is there really to protect you, if the ones sworn to serve and protect you are abusing you. Who do you turn to?"
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| September 09, 2009 |
| Homeless man could get 5 years for wearing handcuff keys |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
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| For wearing handcuff keys on a necklace draped around his neck, a homeless Miami Beach man could face years in prison. Prosecutors on Tuesday formally charged Michael Gonzalez, 22, with disorderly intoxication, marijuana possession and two counts of possession of a concealed handcuff key -- a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. ``It's an actual felony,'' prosecutor Barbara Teresa Govea explained to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Thornton, who questioned the charge. ``There's got to be some kind of constitutional violation in there somewhere,'' Assistant Public Defender Michelle Prescott grumbled to the court. Actually, the Florida Legislature passed the law after the 1998 murders of two Tampa deputies and a state trooper. Hank Earl Carr shot and killed them after he escaped his cuffs using a universal handcuff key hidden on a necklace. Gonzalez was arrested Aug. 16 after Miami Beach police said he was harassing women on the South Beach sand. In a report, Officer Errol Vidal wrote that he found a small amount of marijuana in the man's pocket and ``two handcuff keys concealed under his shirt on a necklace.'' Also under Gonzalez's shirt: a tattoo on his right shoulder, with the word ``anarchy'' and shooting flames.
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| September 09, 2009 |
| 11 accused of faking voter registration cards in Miami-Dade |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
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| Eleven people hired to register potential voters in Miami-Dade County before last year's presidential election were being sought Wednesday for falsifying hundreds of voter registration cards. The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office issued arrest warrants for each of the 11 suspects, all of whom worked for the local chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, (ACORN). By early Wednesday morning, six were in custody, authorities said. ACORN came under fire during last year's presidential campaign when Republicans and other conservative groups accused the national organization of committing fraud in its aggressive voter registration efforts in various cities and counties nationwide, including Florida. But ACORN officials said they had alerted authorities about the alleged illegal activity among some canvassers in Miami-Dade after finding ``numerous discrepancies'' on voter cards collected from the Homestead area. The arrests are ``further evidence we've been policing our own folks and report people attempting to commit voter registration fraud,'' said ACORN spokesman Brian Kettenring. ``This was really some individuals who were trying to defraud their employer.'' Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle praised ACORN. ``We've been very aggressive about a lot of these cases,'' she said. ``But we would not have known about these workers unless ACORN brought it to us. ``It's really minor, ineffectual attempts to justify getting paid an hourly basis. It could not have impacted the voting process whatsoever. Nonetheless, we cannot turn a blind eye to this,'' Rundle added. ACORN quality control workers found the discrepancies in the cards turned in by 10 canvassers and contacted authorities in June 2008, according to the arrest warrant in the case. The group turned in 1,400 cards, of which 888 were found to be fraudulent. An analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement later reviewed a random group of cards, searching databases to find a record of the voter. The cards ``contained personal information that did not match an actual person,'' the warrant said. The workers, who were paid between $8 and $10 an hour, registered names of nonexistent people -- in one case, Paul Newman and James Taylor appeared on cards -- or simply filled out several cards for the same real voter, authorities said. Those arrested are charged with several counts of false swearing in connection with voting or elections and submission of false voter registration information, both third-degree felonies, punishable by up to five (5) years in Florida State Prison.
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| September 09, 2009 |
| Miami Dade Police Shoot Armed Man |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
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| Miami-Dade officers shot an armed man several times late Tuesday after a confrontation, police said. The man was taken by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in serious condition, police said. About 10 p.m., officers got a ``report of an armed, suicidal male who was making threats'' at a home in the 25300 block of Southwest 182nd Avenue, Miami-Dade Detective Juan Villalba said in a release. The man was shot several times. His name was not released. No one else was injured.
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| September 09, 2009 |
| Miramar police: Driver of car that killed motorcyclist had high blood alcohol level |
| Posted By Brett Schwartz |
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| A driver's blood alcohol level was almost three times over the legal limit Tuesday morning when he hit and killed a motorcyclist, police said. Robert Jones, 31, of Miramar, was arrested after police said he fled the scene of the crash. He was booked into the Broward Main Jail on multiple traffic-related charges, including DUI manslaughter. Eric Maron, 43, of Davie, died at the scene immediately after the crash, which occurred at the intersection of Pembroke Road and Island Drive, officials said. Jones was driving his 9-year-old stepdaughter to school when the accident happened at 7:20 a.m., said Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues. They were in a white, older model Toyota Avalon and were not injured. The motorcyclist was trying to get in front of the Toyota in the left eastbound lane of Pembroke Road when the crash happened, according to Justin Chavez, 17, who said he saw the accident. Police said they are still investigating the cause of the accident. The motorcyclist was dragged about 100 feet underneath the car before it came to a stop at the intersection, Chavez said. That's when he saw Jones and his stepdaughter leave the car. "They looked shaken up," Chavez said. "I was more concerned about the man who was trapped. He just looked lifeless." Jones started walking south on Island Drive and told Chavez he was going to take his daughter to school and would come back, police said. Police later found him in the 2100 block of Gulfstream Drive, about seven blocks from the crash scene. The Miramar Fire Department administered two Breathalyzer tests and withdrew blood for an official toxicology report, Rues said. Both Breathalyzer tests showed Jones' blood alcohol level was nearly three times above the legal limit, officials said. It will take several weeks before the results of the blood test are released, Rues said. The breath/blood alcohol limit in the state of Florida is .08. The most likely charges for the driver of this vehicle would include DUI manslaughter and Leaving the Scene of an Accident Resulting in Death. However, the state of Florida would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt specific elements required by Florida Statute. The first element that must be proven is that the individual charged was the person in actual physical control of the vehicle at the time of the crash. In addtion, they would have to prove that the driver's impairment was the cause of the accident and not as a result of the careless driving of the motorcyclist. A recent high profile case with similar charges was resolved early with very little incarceration in part because of the state's inability to disprove that the victim's actions were not as likely a cause of the accident as the driver's level of impairment while behind the wheel of his vehicle.
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