Florida

Former cop to serve 364 days for attack on Miami-Dade police officer

 
 

A jarring mug shot of Eloy Saltare, a former Belle Glade police officer who was charged with assaulting a law enfrocement officer and claimed police beat him.
A jarring mug shot of Eloy Saltare, a former Belle Glade police officer who was charged with assaulting a law enfrocement officer and claimed police beat him.
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dovalle@MiamiHerald.com

A former Belle Glade police officer will serve 364 days in jail for firing at a Miami-Dade cop during a high-speed Palmetto Expressway car chase in September 2009.

Eloy Saltare, 41, this week agreed to a plea deal that also includes six years of probation and two years of house arrest.

Police alleged that Saltare was driving his black Dodge Charger in Miami Lakes behind the vehicle of his former girlfriend, Melissa Castillo, pointing a gun at her and at his own head. She called 911.

Miami-Dade Officer Hector Valls, driving a marked patrol car, drove past Saltare, and the suspect pointed a gun at him, according to an arrest warrant.

After a chase lasting “several miles,” the cars stopped on the Palmetto Expressway and Saltare fired at Valls, who returned fire, hitting the car but missing the suspect.

He gave up, but a “struggle ensued” as Saltare was being handcuffed while on the asphalt, police said. He was later treated at Palmetto General Hospital, his facial injuries were captured in a jarring jail mug shot.

Saltare, who also worked for the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Seminole police, claimed police beat him.

He pleaded to charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, public discharge of a firearm and fleeing and eluding. A Miami-Dade judge granted Saltare a “withhold of adjudication,” meaning the felony convictions won’t show on his record.

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