In the latest salvo in the tit-for-tat among South Florida’s law enforcement community, a new video recorded by a law enforcement officer aired Monday on Univision 23 television that this time appeared to show Florida Highway Patrol troopers speeding without their emergency lights flashing.
The 75-second video surfaced a little more than a week after the same station aired the video that sparked the debate.
The original footage showed FHP trooper Donna Jane Watts pulling over off-duty Miami police officer Fausto Lopez for speeding in his marked patrol car on Florida’s Turnpike in Broward County. She approached his cruiser with her gun drawn, yelling and then handcuffing him.
This unleashed angry condemnations by police officers — and some troopers — on a local website and a firestorm of controversy among the public.
The latest video was shot about 2:45 a.m. Thursday on the turnpike. Univision did not identify the officer or the officer’s department, saying only that the person was a member of South Florida law enforcement who did not have jurisdiction on that stretch of the turnpike.
The video shows the videographer’s speedometer at the bottom of the screen. The top half shows the driver’s view of the road.
Here’s what it shows: Visible through the car’s windshield are what looks like a pair of FHP cruisers in the left lanes speeding without their lights flashing. Going by the speedometer on camera, the cruisers appeared to be going between 90 and 100 mph.
“And they are both going that fast and the speed limit is 60 [mph]. I’m not even a car’s length away from the one in front of me,” the person filming says. The commentary was shown via subtitles; Univision 23 said it removed the officer’s voice from the video to protect the person’s identity.
About 10 seconds later, the officer speaks again, hinting at continued anger among officers about how Lopez was treated by the FHP trooper.
“They can go 100 [mph] but God forbid we do,” the subtitles show. “They stop us and ‘39’ us .?.?. arrest us. Let’s put it that way.”
FHP spokesman Sgt. Mark Wysocky declined to comment Monday.
In the original incident, which took place Oct. 11 on the southbound turnpike in Hollywood, Watts charged Lopez with reckless driving, a misdemeanor. In her report, Watts wrote that Lopez at one point drove “in excess of 120 mph.”
Lopez’s lawyer has said his client is innocent.
Police officers criticized Watts, 47, for treating Lopez, 35, like a common criminal.
The images also outraged the public, although for a different reason. Many were offended that Lopez felt he had the right to drive so fast in his uniform and police car to his off-duty job.
But the latest video comes with a new set of questions: Who was the officer who made the recording? Which agency does he or she work for? Was the officer on or off duty at the time?
Univision 23 said it received the video through a third party and released no further information.
Read more:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/07/2 ... z1d8xy8tGQ
