Opa-locka police sergeant with checkered past fired again for tasing officer: officials
_fitted.jpeg "Opa-locka Sgt. Sergio Perez was terminated Monday afternoon following an internal affairs investigation into him tasing a fellow officer.")
A veteran Opa-locka police sergeant was fired Monday for the second time in his 14-year career with the department for tasing a fellow officer and showing no remorse, a probe reveals. It’s also not the first time in which Sergio Perez has been in hot water — as he was under investigation for allegedly abusing a mentally ill teen during an arrest in 2020.
On Monday afternoon, City Manager Darvin Williams accepted Police Chief Kenneth Ottley’s recommendation to terminate Perez.
Perez has worked with the Opa-locka Police Department since 2007, receiving numerous promotions, before ultimately ascending from officer to captain.
READ MORE: Opa-locka officer arrested again — this time for dragging bound teen down steps
That was until September 2021, when then-Captain Perez walked into the police department’s office with a taser turned on. He went up to Sgt. Michael Steel, who was sitting at his desk, and said he was there to “certify” him with the new taser, an internal affairs investigation report read.
Steel repeatedly told Perez that he did not want to be tased, the report read. Despite his assertion, Perez proceeded to zap him with the training model taser, which has felt tips that officers use for practice.
After springing out of his seat, the report said Perez told Steel to “stop being a baby,“ before he left the office laughing in amusement.
A few days later, the sergeant reported the incident. The department’s investigation was paused when Perez was criminally charged for his actions but resumed once the case was dropped in January.
The internal affairs investigation concluded Perez violated several department policies, including misusing equipment, injuring an officer and administrative misconduct.
The City of Opa-locka will hold a press conference Wednesday to elaborate on his termination.
Perez told the Miami Herald that his termination was a smokescreen to shield the police department from alleged corruption allegations.
“The former HR director already testified that I was demoted for this event, but as a measure of retaliation, I am being ‘disciplined’ again as they are doing everything to avoid exposure and facing the music,” he said.
Perez added that he reported criminal conduct involving missing evidence to the department’s internal affairs division last week.
“Unfortunately, the police chief and the City Manager have turned a blind eye to the corruption I have reported.
His lawyer Rick Diaz said that he would soon file a civl rights lawsuit against the city and about 10 others — alleging malicious investigations, false arrest and malicious prosecution. Perez will separately challenge his termination through his union’s collective bargaining arbitration process.
“I think the City of Opa-locka will live to regret the decision of firing him,” Diaz said. “I hope they have a big insurance policy or a lot of money in reserve.”
Checkered past?
Perez was arrested and reassigned after his use of a taser on Steel, but that was not the only time he was handcuffed for his actions while on-duty.
In November 2022, Perez turned himself in after a misdemeanor battery charge was filed against him for an incident in 2020.
He and another officer responded to a family in distress who tied up their mentally ill teen with cables. The family told the officers they no longer needed them when they arrived, but that did not stop the pair from dragging the teen across the ground, cellphone video showed.
The police department internally cleared Perez of any wrongdoing, and a jury acquitted him in March.
Perez was fired for the first time by the department two years after a 2013 crash, in which the city said he chased a car the wrong way down Interstate 95 before it crashed into an SUV, killing four people.
A few years later, he was rehired by Opa-locka police after an arbiter ruled they city’s investigation was flawed.
READ MORE: Opa-locka cop fired for wrong-way crash that killed four
This story was originally published August 20, 2024 at 5:43 PM.
%20Cropped%20(2).jpg)