A trooper pulled a man over for DUI. Then a Hialeah police commander told him not to blow.
When a Florida Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Manuel Abreu for driving under the influence on Dec. 19, the suspect was allowed to make one phone call so someone could come pick up his white Jeep.
Whom did Abreu call?
Hialeah Police Department Commander Luis Lahera, who showed up and told Abreu not to take a breathalyzer test even as the trooper advised him not to interfere.
The highway patrol notified Hialeah Police Chief Sergio Velázquez — and now the Miami Herald has learned that Lahera retired while under internal investigation.
Abreu had failed to stop at a red light not far from the Hialeah Park Racing & Casino, according to an FHP incident report. His eyes were “bloodshot and glassy” and his speech “very slurred,” the trooper wrote. He smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test. Abreu admitted to having had some beers at the casino. At 11:48 p.m., the trooper placed Abreu, 50, under arrest for driving under the influence.
Lahera arrived soon after in an unmarked police vehicle with the lights on. The trooper asked Abreu if he would provide a breath sample. Abreu first said no, but then changed his mind. Then he asked Lahera what he should do.
The trooper, J.F. Dominguez, intervened, telling Lahera not “to give [Abreu] any information.”
Nonetheless, “Mr. Lahera walked over to my patrol vehicle, opened the backseat and told Mr. Abreu in Spanish to not provide the breath sample,” Dominguez wrote in his report. “Mr. Abreu replied to him okay.”
Abreu refused the test and was taken to jail and charged with a misdemeanor, according to the report.
A highway patrol captain later met with Velázquez to inform him of the incident, said Lt. Alejandro Camacho, a spokesman for FHP. “FHP brought it to the attention of Chief Velázquez for him to handle in whatever manner he deemed appropriate,” Camacho said in an email.
Lt. Eddie Rodriguez, a spokesman for Hialeah police, confirmed that FHP contacted the department on Jan. 16. He said that Lahera retired five days later and that an internal investigation will continue despite the commander leaving. He also said the department had notified the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office public corruption unit.
“Because this is an open and active investigation, Chief Velázquez states he will not be able to provide any additional information,” Rodriguez said in an email.
Abreu’s relationship with Lahera isn’t clear. Neither man could be reached for comment. Lahera is listed on a city website as the commander of one of the police department’s six patrol sectors. There is no record of a “Manuel Abreu” facing DUI charges in Miami-Dade County. Under Florida law, refusing to take a breathalyzer test subjects drivers to a mandatory license suspension. Abreu told the trooper he was “great” with a suspension, according to the report.
Little information was immediately available about Abreu but a man who shares his name and birth date is associated with several Hialeah-based companies that sell furniture and provide carpentry services, according to a public records database.
Lahera was promoted by Velázquez shortly after the latter became chief in 2012, according to an el Nuevo Herald story from the time.
Velázquez and his department have been criticized for their handling of a separate case involving former Hialeah police Sgt. Jesús Menocal Jr.
Menocal was accused of sexually assaulting four women and girls in 2015 but did not face discipline from Velázquez as a result of an internal affairs complaint. The FBI arrested Menocal last month on civil-rights charges related to two of the alleged assaults. He was fired after his arrest and has pleaded not guilty.
Velázquez and Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández have defended how the city handled the case.
The incident involving Lahera echoes a 2005 scandal that led to Velázquez being demoted when he was a lieutenant in Hialeah’s police department.
An internal affairs investigation found that a family friend had called Velázquez, then off duty, to the scene of a domestic dispute — and that Velázquez had interfered with the responding officers, ordered an unlawful arrest and then lied about his conduct while refusing to provide evidence to investigators.
He told investigators he had responded to the scene as “Sergio, a civilian,” not as a police lieutenant.
Velázquez was demoted to sergeant but reinstated two years later by a new mayor, Julio Robaina, after the police department re-investigated the original complaint. The department has not yet provided documents relating to the new investigation. The Herald asked for those documents on Dec. 3.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 2:34 PM.
