Felon careened through neighborhood with gun in car. Cops let him walk free? 😨
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    Felon careened through neighborhood with gun in car. Cops let him walk free? 😨

    SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL
    JUL 11, 2021 AT 9:00 AM

    Felon careened through neighborhood with gun in car. Cops let him walk free!

    44-year-old Anthony Sanabria, a multi-convicted felon, bumps fists with police officer Ras of the Fort Lauderdale police!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL
    JUL 11, 2021 AT 9:00 AM

    Felon careened through neighborhood with gun in car. Cops let him walk free!

    44-year-old Anthony Sanabria, a multi-convicted felon, bumps fists with police officer Ras of the Fort Lauderdale police!

    Be a fine lad a post the whole thing i ain’t paying for sun sentinel

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    Corruption

    Eileen Kelley, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
    Sun, July 11, 2021, 9:06 AM·10 min read
    The day was just getting started for many as the man driving a gold Lexus SUV in an unfamiliar neighborhood was winding down from an all-nighter. The street was filled with people walking their dogs and one person had to jump out of the way as the swerving vehicle neared.

    The shirtless driver, Anthony Sanabria, slowed to a halt, partly in someone’s driveway, partly on the street.

    Failing to put the car in park and turn it off, Sanabria, a convicted felon, reclined the seat and fell asleep. Although it was a dry and clear on this mid May morning, the windshield wipers were on. A Glock handgun lay inches from Sanabria, six spent shell casings were at his feet, and two live rounds were on the back seat.

    “Call the police,” Michael Albetta, the president of the Lake Ridge Civic Association, told a frightened couple who called to report that their uninvited guest was passed out in his car, parked diagonally across their driveway on 11th Avenue.

    Police in Fort Lauderdale were called, but what happened next is not what the residents of Lake Ridge anticipated. The driver was let go. Even Sanabria, 44, was stunned that he wasn’t being hauled back to jail.

    A South Florida Sun Sentinel review of two hours of police body-camera footage from two officers, the police incident report, court records and the 911 calls from the Lake Ridge neighborhood paint what some say is a troubling picture of police officers not doing what they can to keep the community safe. Others, though, say the decision to arrest or to not arrest is a judgment call — a call that could go either way.

    The residents of the neighborhood have asked an attorney to explain how it was that Sanabria, a convicted felon with a gun who, some witnesses said, appeared to be in no shape to drive, was free to go.

    Attorney Greg Lauer, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, can’t explain. He’s incensed that higher-ups at the Fort Lauderdale Police Department are standing by the decision not to arrest Sanabria. Police reviewed the case and found Officer Dariusz Ras did nothing improper.

    Lauer asked the Broward State Attorney’s Office to look into the matter in May. Lauer said recently that he has not heard back. He worries for the community and is at a loss to explain to the very people who asked for his help how this could happen.

    “This is the reason you don’t allow law enforcement to police itself because the result is absolute garbage,” Lauer said.

    The Broward State Attorney’s Office said it could not comment about the case at this time: “This matter is the subject of an on-going criminal investigation and it would be inappropriate for our office to make any further comment at this time.” Sanabria could not be reached for comment.

    Passed out with a gun
    “We have an emergency here,” a woman told a 911 dispatcher at 7:51 a.m. on May 16. “A gentleman is passed out in his car in front of our house. He’s passed out, but he’s got a gun.”

    The woman told the dispatcher she intended to reach into the SUV and put the vehicle in park, but the sight of the gun scared her, chasing her back into her home. “I’m not going to do that anymore. Please hurry up.”

    Police did arrive, but there was no field sobriety test. There was no pat down. No barrage of questions. No handcuffs. Nor was Sanabria, a felon with a lengthy criminal record, told to take a seat in the back of Officer Ras’ squad car, according to nearly two hours of police footage from Ras’ and another officer’s body cameras.

    They did take the gun from Sanabria’s car, but they did not arrest him on a felony charge: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

    Sanabria has resisted being arrested in the past, and that arrest was violent. Ras would have known this after running his name through a database after Sanabria gave him his license. According to a Fort Lauderdale police report from July 2014. Sanabria tried to grab an officer’s gun and was punched in the face. He continued to resist arrest at Broward Health and had to be physically restrained. More officers were called to restrain him at the Main Jail.

    That May day in the Lake Ridge neighborhood was decidedly different. Instead of routine police work, camera footage shows fist bumps between Ras and Sanabria, laughter and confusion from Sanabria as to how he was not going back to jail. The officer suggests he saw Sanabria being arrested in 2014.

    Sanabria said: “I’m glad you remembered me. God damnit. That’s what it is. That’s why you didn’t take me to jail. That’s what it is. You remember the ass whooping you put on me,” Sanabria said, punching his fists over and over to imitate a beating.

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    Part 2

    A familiar face
    Sanabria has been jailed in South Florida many times over and sent to prison four times. He’s been convicted of trafficking in cocaine, robbery with a firearm multiple times, and aggravated battery causing serious harm, among many other convictions. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal background report that lists dates of Sanabria’s arrests, the arresting agencies, charges and their outcomes is 44 pages long.

    Sanabria cannot lawfully be in possession of a gun. Felons caught with one could land back in prison for at least three years and up to 15 years. But for people like Sanabria, felons classified as habitual offenders, the minimum and maximum years behind bars for the gun charge could double, said Lauer. Lauer is a former Broward prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer who now specializes in civil rights.

    Sanabria is no stranger to gun law. In 2001, he was sent back to prison after being caught with a gun. Camera footage of his run-in with Ras and Officer Michael Johnson reveals that he clearly thinks he’s heading back to jail.

    “What’s up, bro?” Sanabria asks Ras when the officer hands Sanabria his driver’s license after running his name through a crime database that would offer an assortment of information including Sanabria’s long felony criminal past.

    “You tell me,” Ras says.

    “You taking me to the ringer or what?” Sanabria asks.

    Ras says it’s up to him.

    Sanabria asks about jail again and then says, “You confiscated my gun?”

    As Sanabria continues to talk about the gun, Ras speaks over him: “Don’t say anything because I don’t want you to say anything dumb.”

    The gun was taken away, as were the spent shell casings and live rounds.

    Sanabria was free to go when a family member came to the neighborhood to pick him up about an hour after police arrived.

    Was it a good call to let him go?
    Police have some discretion in their jobs, such as giving a warning for perceived misdemeanors or giving a civil citation as opposed to making an arrest for, say, a low-level drug offense. But one thing, the law says, they no have discretion with is choosing not to arrest when they witness a felony.

    Lauer believes police should have made an arrest because the camera footage shows the gun was right next to Sanabria and the spent bullets were at his feet in an otherwise very clean car.

    Marshall Jones, a criminology professor at Florida Institute of Technology who is recognized as an expert in police recruiting, field training and retention and implicit bias, said the one with the most discretion is the State Attorney’s Office, which decides whether to take a case.

    Jones thinks the call whether to pursue felony gun possession could go either way. That said, he said he thinks there should be an internal affairs investigation.

    But there won’t be one, Fort Lauderdale Police told the Sun Sentinel.

    “A preliminary review was completed and it was determined that the officer lawfully exercised his discretion,” said Detective Ali Adamson, a spokeswoman for the police department.

    Though not specifically answering questions about the so-called beating Ras witnessed by police on Sanabria several years ago, Adamson would say only this: “It is the policy of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to review all use of force incidents.”

    There was no use of force report associated with the July 2014 beating, police said Friday.

    The police department’s response does not sit well with Lauer.

    “This isn’t possession of marijuana by a kid or by anybody. It’s a legitimate crime and so is DUI,” Lauer said.

    According to the police report, Ras was unable to determine whom the gun belonged to, even though Sanabria did say, “All B.S. aside, are you going to confiscate my gun?”

    The report describes Sanabria as passed out, but Ras does not elaborate on it or the decision to not determine Sanabria was driving under the influence. On camera footage, Ras told Sanabria that he could notlet him drive away and that someone needed to come get him.

    Lauer believes if Sanabria had been taken to jail and charged with felony gun possession and driving under the influence, it would have been an easy case for the state to prove in court. “This is criminal law 101,” he said.

    Lauer requested and reviewed the bodycam footage as well as the 911 calls and police report after being contacted by residents who were were stunned to see Sanabria leave their neighborhood in a car that was not a police vehicle.

    He outlined their concerns, as well as his, in a three-page letter to Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor on May 28. He asked Pryor to do the following:

    Evaluate the case and consider bringing charges for felony possession of a firearm and driving under the influence.

    Find out why Fort Lauderdale Police officers let Sanabria go.

    Determine whether anyone at the police department investigated whether Sanabria shot anyone or anything from his car. “One could infer that the gun was recently fired from the car because of the defendant’s remarks and the unlikelihood that a person would leave six spent shell casings in the car,” Lauer wrote, explaining the car was a new SUV, still had paper tags and was otherwise immaculate.

    Find out whether anyone at the police department tested the gun for fingerprints and DNA. “I acknowledge that it is not necessary to do so in order to charge the defendant with being a felon in possession of a firearm or DUI but it could provide valuable crime-solving information,” Lauer wrote.

    “I need this information because the residents of Lake Ridge came to me for answers, and so far, I am at a total loss to explain this one,” Lauer wrote. “I have never seen anything like this. I have prosecuted and defended numerous cases just like this in state and federal courts, and I cannot explain why a career criminal who committed a serious crime on video was allowed to walk away.”

    Lauer said he has not yet heard back from State Attorney Pryor.

    Staff writer Mario Ariza contributed to this report.

    Eileen Kelley can be reached at 772-925-9193 or ekelley@sunsentinel.com.

  5. #5
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    Hey this guy has been in and out of prison as stated above. The judges and lawyers obviously feel he is not a threat since they keep letting him out. So why just keep repeating the cycle

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    Haha haha haha so the judges and courts keep letting this guy out and then people get mad when the cops don’t want to arrest him. Haha why should a cop risk their freedom when the situation has already been made safe?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    Haha haha haha so the judges and courts keep letting this guy out and then people get mad when the cops don’t want to arrest him. Haha why should a cop risk their freedom when the situation has already been made safe?
    To enforce the law, protect public & in furtherance of oath.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    To enforce the law, protect public & in furtherance of oath.
    Fake news, BLM antifa, liberal politicians have made this difficult without risking your own life, freedom, or carrier.

  9. #9
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    This "lawyer" Greg Lauer is partners with Christina Currie on the review board. They are a pair of cop hating azzholes. Nova Law...explains part of it.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
    This "lawyer" Greg Lauer is partners with Christina Currie on the review board. They are a pair of cop hating azzholes. Nova Law...explains part of it.
    People hate cops.....? You're Kidding. I have not seen that being portrayed, you must be paranoid.

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