Miami fires police captain after years of controversy. His attorney blames politics
Javier Ortiz — a controversial Miami cop who has wielded social media as a hammer against perceived enemies, skated past accusations of excessive force for over a decade and has been suspended for more than a year — was fired Tuesday.
Reached at City Hall Tuesday, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said the 18-year veteran, and former three-term president of the city’s police union, was terminated “based on his pattern of behavior and his failure to maintain a good moral character.”
Ortiz attorney Griska Mena said her client received a reprimand signed by Morales earlier Tuesday that said the officer had been terminated over what sounds like paperwork technicality. It accused the police captain of incorrectly submitting off-duty time-sheets to the wrong supervisor, she said.
The submission of off-duty hours, the latest issue to land Ortiz in hot water, had been viewed differently by a pair of police oversight panels under Morales. Two months ago, one of the boards recommended firing Ortiz. But only two weeks ago, a disciplinary panel said the captain had done no wrong and should be returned to work.
“It’s outrageous. The fact that five members of Morales’ staff exonerated Ortiz and two weeks and a day later he’s fired, screams political motivation,” Mena said. “We’re going to be appealing it.”
Mena said her client’s next move is to demand arbitration, a right provided to police officers through the union’s collective bargaining agreement.
The firing of Ortiz isn’t likely to be the last chapter in a long, drawn-out fight by police brass to have him terminated.
The most recent tension with the captain, a thorn in the side of leadership during most of his 18 years, began in January 2020 when then-Chief Jorge Colina suspended Ortiz after claiming he was Black to the city’s lone Black commissioner.
Ortiz was back in uniform just over a year later after becoming an ally of then-Police Chief Art Acevedo — a controversial figure himself who was fired in six months after very public clashes with Miami commissioners. Soon, there would be dueling Internal Affairs findings about the now infamous off-duty work slips.
First, an internal affairs probe under Acevedo found Ortiz had committed no wrongdoing. A second look after Morales took over determined the captain had committed nine violations and should be terminated. Then came the competing findings from the police oversight panels.
Over the years, Ortiz’s use of social media and constant bickering with city brass created friction. Some, including the NAACP found his actions racially charged. He berated the city’s highest ranking Black Muslim woman for not covering her heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. Later he got into a tiff with Beyonce and threatened to boycott her concert because he thought she was sympathetic to the Black Panther movement. He called 12-year-old Tamir Rice, shot and killed by a Cleveland cop as the child played with a toy gun, a thug.
Ortiz also flew to Ferguson, Missouri, for a barbecue with officers there after civil unrest broke out when an officer shot and killed an unarmed Black man named Michael Brown during a confrontation. And he was accused of doxing a woman, even releasing her cellphone number publicly and showing pictures of her allegedly drinking on social media sites, who videotaped an officer she said passed her at over 100 miles per hour.
Finally, in April 2021, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI concluded a two-year investigation into Ortiz that said the officer’s actions over the years represented “a pattern of abuse and bias against minorities, particularly African-Americans.” In one instance a woman claimed he stomped on her for driving a nice car while her baby sat in the back seat.
The review was based on more than a half-dozen confrontations between the police officer and civilians as well as complaints by fellow Miami cops. The 53-page report also found that Ortiz “has been known for cyber-stalking and doxing civilians who question his authority or file complaints against him.”
The FDLE, however, chose not to move forward with criminal charges because it said most of the incidents it looked at had exceeded the statute of limitations.
After this story was posted on-line, Ortiz texted a Herald reporter: “You know who is bigger than Manny Morales? The justice that will be brought down by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praying for him.”
READ MORE: Latest police review panel: Give controversial Miami captain job back, rescind reprimands
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 5:22 PM.
