Hialeah mayor has a vehicle with emergency lights. A Miami cop gave him a ticket
Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo was cited during a traffic stop by a Miami police officer on Sunday morning while driving a city vehicle equipped with emergency lights, the Miami Herald has learned.
Calvo was driving a black Hialeah SUV in or near Coconut Grove when he was pulled over by Yasmani Gonzalez, a motorcycle officer with the Miami Police Department, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the stop.
The Miami Police Department would neither confirm nor deny whether one of its officers had pulled over the mayor, explaining that traffic citations are filed directly with the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts.
Police officials did confirm that Yasmani Gonzalez is a Miami Police officer.
Partial records obtained by the Miami Herald show that Calvo was first cited at 11:33 a.m. Sunday under a law that generally applies when a driver fails to obey an official traffic-control device. The violation can include making a prohibited turn, turning from the wrong lane, disregarding lane-direction arrows, ignoring a “Do Not Enter” sign, or failing to comply with other traffic signs or signals.
Calvo, who is often chaufferred by a police escort but was driving himself on Sunday, also received a second citation under the Florida Statute that regulates the use of emergency and colored lights on vehicles. The statute generally prohibits vehicles from displaying blue lights visible from the front unless the vehicle is specifically authorized under state law, such as certain law enforcement or emergency-response vehicles.
According to sources familiar with the stop, Gonzalez initially pulled Calvo over for making an illegal left turn. During the traffic stop, the officer allegedly determined that the city-owned vehicle Calvo was driving was equipped with blue emergency lights, resulting in the second citation.
The Miami Herald has learned Gonzalez informed the mayor that the violation could potentially subject him to arrest, though Calvo ultimately received only civil citations and was not taken into custody. Calvo may challenge the ticket.
In a statement sent to the Miami Herald through a spokesman, Calvo said:
“I was issued two civil traffic citations while operating a city-owned vehicle assigned to me as mayor,” Calvo said. “One citation relates to a traffic maneuver and the second concerns equipment that was installed on a vehicle owned by and registered to the Hialeah Police Department, a vehicle that was retrofitted before I took office and before the vehicle was assigned to me. ”
The incident raises questions about whether elected officials may legally operate government-owned vehicles equipped with emergency lighting.
Municipal attorneys consulted by the Miami Herald said Florida law generally limits the use of blue lights to authorized emergency vehicles and does not provide a specific exemption for mayors. While municipalities may authorize certain vehicle assignments or equipment for operational purposes, local policies do not supersede state law.
Mayor Calvo “doesn’t meet any of the state exceptions,” said Jose Smith, a former city attorney in Miami Beach and North Miami Beach. “Since he is the mayor of Hialeah, he could probably authorize certain uses within the city, but the state statute would still appear to prohibit it.”
Smith added that under Florida statutes, “a mayor does not have authority to drive a city-owned vehicle equipped with emergency lights. Those lights are reserved for law enforcement.”
He also said that the Miami police officer could have arrested Calvo, because driving a city vehicle equipped with police-style equipment could be interpreted as the impersonation of a police officer, even if emergency lights were not activated.
Under Hialeah’s Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, the mayor has the authority to assign take-home vehicles based on the nature of an employee’s work assignment.
In practice, Calvo’s official city vehicle—equipped with emergency lights—is typically driven by his security detail, including his assigned sergeant-at-arms, Rudi Ginestra, who has served in that role since Jan. 18.
Previous mayors, including Esteban “Steve” Bovo, did not have a dedicated sergeant-at-arms assigned. The practice of assigning a sergeant-at-arms to the mayoral detail began under former Mayor Carlos Hernández, a retired police officer.
This is not Calvo’s first traffic citation. In July 2023, while serving as a Hialeah council member, Calvo was pulled over by a Hialeah Police officer for allegedly failing to stop at a traffic signal while driving a red Tesla, according to Hialeah Police Department records. The case carried a civil penalty of $277. Miami-Dade Clerk of Court records show the case was dismissed at the request of the citing officer.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 3:33 PM.
