Miami-Dade

Courts

Three Medley cops ordered fired for traffic accident cover-up

 

The three officers allegedly pinned the blame on an officer-involved wreck on another driver, falsely cuffing him for DUI.

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Leovigildo Bravo Fraga
Leovigildo Bravo Fraga

dovalle@MiamiHerald.com

Herrera, the cops’ lawyer suing the city, said he believes Fraga, who works the night shift, was impaired “by exhaustion.”

Perez wrote in his report that Fraga was traveling at least 60 mph, a fact shot down later by the surveillance video.

In his traffic crash report, Perez also wrote that motorist Nicole Beltran witnessed the accident, even though the woman told police that day she never saw what happened. The sergeant even claimed he called Beltran twice for additional info — a lie, based on phone records.

At the time, Lt. Olmedo was the acting chief because Said-Jinete was out of town.

The investigation revealed that Olmedo quickly approved the report and authored a memo riddled with lies, including that Romero had been pulling Bravo over when the accident happened, and that “the incident was non-preventable.”

Olmedo, the investigation revealed, also broke Medley rules by filing the report directly with the department’s insurance company, not with the town’s legal department.

The coverup did not surface until an adjuster with United Automobile Insurance noticed that Romero’s claim did not match the accident report and photos. The company denied Romero’s claim, sparking red flags. The chief’s office asked Hialeah police to initiate an internal-affairs probe.

“Frankly, upon review of the police report, I was surprised that Mr. Romero was not faulted for the accident. He did turn left in front of the other party and he did have a duty of greater care” under state law, a claims manager wrote to the city.

As Chief Said-Jinete ordered Olmedo suspended last year, she recalled, he stood up from his office chair.

“I f---ed up, Chief. You don’t even have to do an investigation. Just demote me to an officer and send me to the range,” Olmedo said, according to Said-Jinete’s report detailing the findings of an investigation.

The possible crimes: unlawful compensation, official misconduct and fraudulent insurance claim.

The final investigation was presented to Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Johnette Hardiman, of the public corruption unit. The evidence showed “very sloppy police work” but could not sustain a criminal case, according to her May 30 final memo.

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