Miami-Dade

Feds arrest Miami-Dade cop, say he stopped women drivers without cause for sexual thrills

 

The officer was charged with depriving people of their civil rights for detaining numerous women drivers without probable cause, so that he could ask them to expose their breasts or talk about their underwear.

jweaver@MiamiHerald.com

She replied that she did, and he asked to see them.

“M.F. then lifted her shirt and showed Dwivedi the scar,” according to the complaint written by FBI special agent Susan Funk. “M.F. stated that Dwivedi did not touch her breast.”

Afterward, the officer told her that she appeared sober and could drive home. He also said that he would follow her to ensure she arrived safely.

At her residence, Dwivedi said he was thirsty, asking for a drink. The woman said the officer spent more than one hour at her home talking about his personal life.

As in the previous incident, Dwivedi did not list the stop on his daily activity report or inform a dispatcher of the stop. He did not conduct a check of her driver’s license, either.

On June 5, the complaint says, Dwivedi detained two women and their boyfriends at 4:30 a.m. on a beach in Key Biscayne, accusing them of trespassing through a hole in a fence. In a parking lot, he questioned one of the women, M.M., about the underwear she was wearing.

“M.M. stated that Dwivedi continuously pointed his flashlight at her cleavage,” the complaint says.

“At one point, Dwivedi pulled his pants zipper down.”

The officer eventually released M.M. and the others, who drove away.

After the women lodged complaints with Miami-Dade police, the department’s internal affairs investigators conducted surveillance of Dwivedi’s shifts, concluding that he made dozens of traffic stops without probable cause.

On June 25, the officer stopped an undercover officer during a surveillance around midnight near Northwest 12th Avenue and 40th Street. Dwivedi said he stopped her for making an illegal right turn.

“The undercover officer reported that Dwivedi was flashing his light onto her breasts and between her legs while at her vehicle,” according to the complaint.

The undercover officer gave him a false name, date of birth and Social Security number. Dwivedi said he could not find her in public records, but he let her go without issuing a citation.

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