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Posted on 07/13/2012 12:07:34 PM PDT by Elle Bee
CHIEF LEE ESCORTS AN INTOXICATED GUEST TO HIS CAR AND TELLS HIM TO DRIVE HOME. SO THE YOUNG MAN CLIMBS INTO HIS MUSTANG, STARTS THE CAR, SLAMS IT INTO REVERSE AND ACCELERATES— SMASHING INTO A NEIGHBOR’S FENCE
THEN THE KID AND THE CHIEF HAVE A FIGHT IN THE FRONT YARD. WITNESS: THEY WERE TUMBLING ON THE GROUND. WHEN THE COPS SHOW UP, THEY ARREST THE YOUNG MAN
It was almost 3am on Monday morning, last May 28. Police Chief Donie Lee had an overnight house guest— 22- year-old Omar Antonio Garcia Barrera. But things were not working out as they might have been planned.
Omar had obviously had too much of Donie’s liquor. Donie would later tell police officers who were called to the scene that Omar had become “disorderly.”
In his police report, Officer Frank Betz wrote, “Lee told me he asked Garcia to either go to sleep or to leave his residence. Lee said Garcia continued to act in a disorderly manner, so he was asked to leave the residence,” Betz wrote.
According to police reports, Donie escorted Omar to his car and, then, went back inside and locked the front door.
Let’s pause here, just for a moment, to summarize what has happened so far. Our chief of police escorted young Omar Garcia out of his house and to the young man’s car, knowing that Omar was so drunk that he could hardly stand up.
And then our chief went back into his house and locked the door.
What happened next was probably what had to happen under the circumstances.
According to police reports, Omar got into his 1998 silver Ford Mustang, which was parked on 20th Street, started the car, slammed it into reverse, and accelerated.
And he continued to accelerate until he crashed into a chainlink fence at the rear of the Quality Inn.
In the process of bashing the fence, Omar had also backed over a raised concrete curb and the rear tire on the driver’s side of the car was not touching the ground, according to Officer Jesse Young’s report.
Michael Randolph, a security guard at the Quality Inn heard the crash and rushed to the scene at the rear of the hotel.
In his witness report, Randolph said that he saw a very angry man pounding on the trunk of the car with his fists.
Randolph said that he asked the man if he was okay or if he needed some help. In his witness report, Randolph quoted the man saying that he was okay and that his friend lived right across the street.
Randolph watched as Omar walked across the street and knocked on the front door.
Now, keep in mind that Donie does not know that Omar has crashed his car into a neighbor’s fence.
Randolph reported that the man who opened the door told the man who had been driving the car to leave. But, according to Randolph, the man who had been driving the car tried, unsuccessfully, to force his way into the house.
At that point, the altercation between Donie and Omar moved out into the front yard.
It is unclear who made the initial call to the police. Officer Betz, the first officer on the scene, said he was responding to a call reporting that there had been a crash. But he said that while he was inroute, dispatch advised that the driver of the car that had crashed was in a “physical altercation with another person.”
Randolph reported that the two men were “tumbling on the ground.” He also said that the man who had come out of the house had called to him to call the police.
At that time, Randolph was not aware that the man who came out of the house was Police Chief Donie Lee.
Donie was still outside when Officer Betz arrived. And Betz reported that, while he was interviewing Omar to try to determine what had happened, Lee interrupted and told him to handcuff Omar.
Was Omar under arrest at that point? Apparently not.
But the way it works, if you are an officer in the Key West Police Department, is that you do what Chief Lee tells you to do without question.
After handcuffing Omar, Betz put him into the back seat of his patrol can and that is where he remained until Officer Young arrived to do the DUI investigation.
The first thing that Young did was to ask Officer Betz to take the handcuffs off Omar. Go figure.
After conducting a roadside sobriety exercise, Officer Young arrested Omar and hauled him off to jail.
Although the State Attorney Dennis Ward’s Office has yet to file formal charges against Omar, the case has been assigned to a prosecutor and potential witnesses (including Police Chief Donie Lee) are being interviewed.
Initially, it was presumed that Omar would need the services of the Public Defenders office. But local Attorney Don Yates showed up to represent Omar at his hearing.
We wonder who will be paying that bill.
Stay tuned.
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It’s Okay For a Cop (the New Key West Police Chief) To Have sex With a Minor (17 yr old boy) in a patrol car and at his home
This Attorney after having been convicted for three nickels with mandatory jail time is given community service to work on land development deals for the city and county .... precisely what he was convicted of feloniously doing for his clients
Convicted on FBI Tapes @ Nudist Bar, Key West Bag Man Gets Only Probation From Retiring Judge
You can't make this stuff up
Ward Collected State Attorney Paycheck While His Law License Was Suspended
Back in 2009, newly elected Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward received a delinquency letter because he had failed to meet the continuing education requirements for the period ending June 30, 2009. It took Ward two weeks to fulfill the continuing education requirements and report that to the Bar. During that period, Ward was not allowed to practice law as per the Florida Bar — “Delinquent members shall not engage in the practice law in Florida . . .” That quote is from the Florida Bar Rule 1-3.6 concerning delinquent members.
Yet one of the qualifications for the office of State Attorney is that the occupant of the office be a practicing attorney and member of the Florida Bar.
One of the qualifications for the office of State Attorney mandated by the Florida Constitution is that all state attorney candidates "shall be and have been a member of the bar of Florida for the preceding five years." It is undisputed that One-Term Ward has not been a member in good standing of the Florida bar for the past five years and therefore is not qualified to run for the position.
Ward now claims that he did not practice law during that period. Yet Ward took a paycheck for the period he was ineligible to act as State Attorney.
How can we expect Ward to enforce the law when he feels he is above the law himself?
All pigs are equal but Ward thinks that some pigs are more equal than others. Not a good trait in a man vested as the highest law enforcement officer in such a corrupt county.
The Law Doesn’t Apply to State Attorney Dennis Ward and His Minions in the Florida Keys
MCSO: Evidence lacking to arrest drunk deputy
Deputy Donald Dalton, who by Jan. 9 had already racked up a history of alcohol-related misdeeds with the Sheriff's Office, including a previous allegation of drunk driving while on patrol, was never arrested for the alleged DUI that day and has not been charged with a crime.
Dalton blew 0.155 and 0.151, both almost twice the legal limit of 0.08, in two Breathalyzer tests shortly after he was ordered off the road on Jan. 9, say Sheriff's Office documents.
The incident, however, wasn't the first time Dalton was drunk on patrol, according to the Sheriff's Office. On March 11, 2007, Dalton was breath-tested due to concerns that he smelled strongly of alcohol while on duty. The tests, which were administered at 12:30 that afternoon, showed a breath alcohol of 0.02, below the legal limit of 0.08. But the Sheriff's Office concluded that before 9 o'clock that morning, when a co-worker first complained that Dalton smelled of alcohol, he had been driving with a breath alcohol level slightly above 0.1, higher than the limit.
Attorney disbarred over will but Ward doesn’t prosecute
A Marathon attorney and former president of the Florida Keys Bar Association accused of mishandling a woman's will, particularly his collection of $200,000.00 in inheritance money, consented to being disbarred, but Dennis Ward declined to prosecute.
William "Buck" DeVane, who formerly represented Key Colony Beach and the Florida Keys Community College board, agreed not to practice law in Florida……
In addition to over $200,000.00, DeVane took leather sofas, two flat-screen televisions, a Bose radio, artwork and $2,000 to $3,000 in cash from Meyers' condo, as well as $63,562 given to him to care for the deceased woman's dog.
A legal consultant hired by the city of Key West is recommending the City Commission pay a proposed $45,000 settlement to a man claiming he was wrongfully arrested and thrown to the ground by a city police officer.
The incident in question allegedly occurred about 1 a.m. June 20, 2007, when Unuvar was trying to park his car near his Flagler Avenue residence, reports say. Unuvar reportedly couldn't find a parking space near his house, so he parked on the other side of the street. Police said he did so without headlights.
Unuvar alleges that Officer Luis Sanchez threw him to the ground, and that he suffered a cut to the face from the incident. Unuvar was charged with obstructing an officer without violence, but former cop One-Term Ward later dropped the charge, citing insufficient evidence and never considered charging officer Sanchez.
A year earlier, the State Attorney’s Office had to drop charges against a man that Sanchez had arrested because a comparison of the video and his under-oath report showed that Sanchez was lying to try to justify roughing up the man during the arrest. Lying on an official report is a crime. Would you be surprised that Sanchez was never disciplined at all in this case?
On the evening of July 8, 2010, Sanchez stopped a vehicle that was being driven erratically. But when he realized that the vehicle was being driven by an off-duty cop who had been drinking, he turned off his ICOP and arranged for the cop to get a ride home.
Cop’s Ticket dismissed in fatal accident December 1, 2011
Florida Highway Patrol troopers cited Deputy Scott Ward in August after completing an investigation of the accident in which Ward rear-ended an electric car on U.S. 1 on Boca Chica Key. Randall Graft, 54, of North Huntingdon, Pa., died from injuries received when he was thrown from the vehicle.
Deputy Scott Ward reportedly was going 59 mph in a 55 mph zone on his way to work patrolling Higgs Beach in Key West.
Ward began working for the Sheriff's Office in August 2007. His personnel file contains both a letter of commendation and another for a sustained neglect of duty offense. The latter involved "careless handling or intentional abuse of equipment or weapons," in this case a squad car. He struck a concrete utility pole in his patrol car in February 2010. He received a letter of counseling for the offense. He remains working in road patrol. Randall Graft – not so much.
Key West PD
In June 1984, the Key West Police Department in Monroe County, Florida was declared a criminal enterprise under the Federal RICO statutes after a lengthy United States Department of Justice investigation. Several high-ranking officers of the department, including Deputy Police Chief Raymond Cassamayor, were arrested on federal charges of running a protection racket for illegal cocaine smugglers. At trial, a witness testified he routinely delivered bags of cocaine to the Deputy Chief's office at City Hall.
Click on Headline:
Key West Police Department Called a 'Criminal Enterprise' - New York Times
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Key West is right up there with Provincetown, MA. Makes you wonder.
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looks like the police chief was having a hissy fit with his ‘friend’ Garcia.
The Cheif must be crazy. Who doesn’t enjoy drunk sloppy sex with a young macho-muffin?
/MAJOR sarc....
Sounds like a gay old time in Key West.
Well, most of the time, anyway.
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It sounds like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
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I really didn't know what to expect, but I felt such a letdown by the fact that we were just surrounded by open perversion and the sense that something special had been destroyed.
We weren't there very long.
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Ah Key West... Where the women are women, and half the men are too.
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