A ‘really loud’ car honk landed these parents in jail. Now, they can sue Miami-Dade cops

Seven years ago, Darren Mena and his wife were arrested after a ruckus started when he honked his “really loud” car horn at two Miami-Dade detectives in the clogged parking lot of a Pinecrest preschool day care.

Prosecutors eventually dropped the felony charges — and now, a Miami appeals court has cleared the way for the couple to bring the cops to a civil trial over claims of false arrest and use of excessive force.

The Third District Court of Appeal on Wednesday reinstated the lawsuit against detectives Miguel Garcia and Evelyn Guas, who arrested Mena and his wife outside the PreTech Academy in Pinecrest. A trial court judge had dismissed the lawsuit, saying the police officers had probable cause to arrest the parents.

The Menas’ lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. The Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, which is representing the detectives, does not comment on pending litigation.

Garcia is now a detective with Miami-Dade’s economic crimes bureau. Guas is an officer in West Kendall’s Hammocks district.

The unusual case started on Aug. 20, 2012, as Mena and his wife, Lourdes Alvarez-Mena, arrived at the Pinecrest preschool to pick up their son from his first day of class.

As his wife went inside to get the boy, Mena honked his horn — one of those loud ones usually installed on 18-wheelers — at another car in the parking lot. The driver of that car: Garcia, who parked his unmarked police vehicle and walked toward Mena — who then honked the horn one more time.

Mena was in a handicapped parking spot. Garcia said he was “shaken up” by the loud horn, according to court documents.

Garcia asked to see Mena’s disabled parking permit and driver license. A “heated exchange” followed — and Garcia pulled Mena from the car to arrest him, according to the ruling.

Garcia and Guas were on duty that day. As detectives, they were not wearing patrol uniforms.

It was then that Lourdes Alvarez-Mena walked out of the daycare with her son and saw her husband being arrested; she too was cuffed after demanding to know what was going on, according to the court’s ruling.

Mena and his wife were charged with battery on a law-enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, disruption of a school function and breach of peace. The case dragged on for several months before the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges.

Afterward, the Menas filed a lawsuit against Miami-Dade County and the detectives, although it was later dismissed by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Antonio Marin.

The Third DCA agreed that Garcia had probable cause to arrest Mena, at least for violating a noise ordinance for honking the horn. But the court ruled that there was dispute over whether there was enough reason to arrest Alvarez-Mena, who said she had no idea the person manhandling her husband was a police officer.

The detectives claimed that Alvarez-Mena began “hitting” Garcia. But Alvarez-Mena and a school security guard who witnessed the dust-up “stated that Lourdes did not touch either officer,” according to the court’s ruling.

“Based on these facts, we cannot conclude as a matter of law, that there was probable cause to arrest Lourdes,” the appeals court ruled.

The court also reinstated the lawsuit’s claims of excessive force alleged by Mena and his wife.

This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 1:09 PM.