11-02-2011, 09:19 AM
Miami Cop Has Gall, But No Character
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
FSANTIAGO@MIAMIHERALD.COM
When it comes to getting to work on time, Miami Police Officer Fausto Lopez is special.
While the rest of us have to obey traffic laws, he gets to hop on his white-and-blue-striped patrol car and speed — really speed, like 120 miles per hour – on the Turnpike, all the while zigzagging through traffic repeatedly to bypass slowpokes in their Hondas and Toyotas and those clunky rigs and tankers in his way.
So unencumbered by the rules and speed limits was Lopez at 6:28 a.m. on Oct. 11 that he even whizzed by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, who chased him for seven minutes — blue lights flashing, siren wailing — until he finally stopped 12 miles later.
His driving, the chase, and his ensuing detention were caught by the camera on the cruiser of FHP Trooper D.J. Watts.
Lopez was so reckless and brazen that Watts thought the police car might be stolen. She ordered him out of the car at gunpoint and handcuffed him as he protested, albeit politely, to be “shocked” that another cop might actually enforce the law in his special case.
“I can’t believe this at all,” Lopez said.
Watts tried to explain it to him: “You don’t respect me, sir. You don’t respect the people out here.”
He still didn’t get it. But by the spontaneous angry reaction of Watts to the discovery that this was indeed a cop breaking the law and not a felon driving a stolen vehicle, it’s obvious that she’s witnessed what we all have seen in our communities: Police officers using their patrol cars inappropriately to get to where they need go, to drive faster than the rest of us, to bypass traffic rules, in the process putting lives needlessly at risk.
“This is not a first-time occurrence with you all,” Watts, my nominee for Cop of the Year, told Lopez as the camera rolled. “You all come from that way all the time, this Miami Police car, and we never catch it.”
This certainly was not a first time for Lopez, who was charged with careless driving in 2006 by FHP in Miami-Dade. He pleaded not guilty and the case was dismissed, according to court records.
I wonder at what moment during the latest episode, if ever, it might have dawned on Lopez, 35, who has worked at the Miami Police Department for almost six years, that he just might have been breaking the law, that he was endangering everyone on the road.
But he never showed an iota of understanding for what he had done. He explained that he was late to work an off-duty gig. Some “high-end people” at a private school were waiting for him and he couldn’t be late, he insisted.
Even as he was being detained, Lopez was still feeling special, like those “high-end” people he was speeding to serve.
And he is special.
After all, he got off easy.
He was only briefly detained in the patrol car and was charged with criminal reckless driving, a misdemeanor that combines all his offenses, from speeding to inappropriately changing lanes. He faces up to a $500 fine, according to FHP.
If you or I had done what he did, depending on our record, we might have been charged with several offenses and face jail time for trying to flee from a law enforcement officer. But shortly after this incident, Lopez was back at work as a Miami police officer patrolling the streets.
Call me an optimist, but I thought Officer Lopez was so special he might actually realize how lucky he was that he only got a moving citation, that he didn’t kill anyone or provoke the death of anyone, and that he might try to right a wrong.
I thought he might use his knuckle-headedness as a learning moment, apologize to the community for putting lives at risk, and pay his traffic fine for reckless driving. Maybe even go to traffic school or speak to recruits at the Police Academy about the dangers of thinking that you’re above the law because you carry a badge and a gun. You know, the stuff about a police officer being a role model, those old-fashioned values so out of fashion these days.
But he’s not that special.
When it comes to paying for the crime, Officer Lopez is like the rest of us: He has hired a lawyer and he’s contesting the ticket. Never mind that his recklessness and his commentary were all caught on camera.
His lawyer now says he wasn’t even speeding.
Trooper Watts got it right. Still no respect for the people he serves, no respect for the law he represents, and no character at all.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/01/2 ... z1cXPMemzl (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/01/2482825/speeding-cop-has-gall-but-no-character.html#ixzz1cXPMemzl)
BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO
FSANTIAGO@MIAMIHERALD.COM
When it comes to getting to work on time, Miami Police Officer Fausto Lopez is special.
While the rest of us have to obey traffic laws, he gets to hop on his white-and-blue-striped patrol car and speed — really speed, like 120 miles per hour – on the Turnpike, all the while zigzagging through traffic repeatedly to bypass slowpokes in their Hondas and Toyotas and those clunky rigs and tankers in his way.
So unencumbered by the rules and speed limits was Lopez at 6:28 a.m. on Oct. 11 that he even whizzed by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, who chased him for seven minutes — blue lights flashing, siren wailing — until he finally stopped 12 miles later.
His driving, the chase, and his ensuing detention were caught by the camera on the cruiser of FHP Trooper D.J. Watts.
Lopez was so reckless and brazen that Watts thought the police car might be stolen. She ordered him out of the car at gunpoint and handcuffed him as he protested, albeit politely, to be “shocked” that another cop might actually enforce the law in his special case.
“I can’t believe this at all,” Lopez said.
Watts tried to explain it to him: “You don’t respect me, sir. You don’t respect the people out here.”
He still didn’t get it. But by the spontaneous angry reaction of Watts to the discovery that this was indeed a cop breaking the law and not a felon driving a stolen vehicle, it’s obvious that she’s witnessed what we all have seen in our communities: Police officers using their patrol cars inappropriately to get to where they need go, to drive faster than the rest of us, to bypass traffic rules, in the process putting lives needlessly at risk.
“This is not a first-time occurrence with you all,” Watts, my nominee for Cop of the Year, told Lopez as the camera rolled. “You all come from that way all the time, this Miami Police car, and we never catch it.”
This certainly was not a first time for Lopez, who was charged with careless driving in 2006 by FHP in Miami-Dade. He pleaded not guilty and the case was dismissed, according to court records.
I wonder at what moment during the latest episode, if ever, it might have dawned on Lopez, 35, who has worked at the Miami Police Department for almost six years, that he just might have been breaking the law, that he was endangering everyone on the road.
But he never showed an iota of understanding for what he had done. He explained that he was late to work an off-duty gig. Some “high-end people” at a private school were waiting for him and he couldn’t be late, he insisted.
Even as he was being detained, Lopez was still feeling special, like those “high-end” people he was speeding to serve.
And he is special.
After all, he got off easy.
He was only briefly detained in the patrol car and was charged with criminal reckless driving, a misdemeanor that combines all his offenses, from speeding to inappropriately changing lanes. He faces up to a $500 fine, according to FHP.
If you or I had done what he did, depending on our record, we might have been charged with several offenses and face jail time for trying to flee from a law enforcement officer. But shortly after this incident, Lopez was back at work as a Miami police officer patrolling the streets.
Call me an optimist, but I thought Officer Lopez was so special he might actually realize how lucky he was that he only got a moving citation, that he didn’t kill anyone or provoke the death of anyone, and that he might try to right a wrong.
I thought he might use his knuckle-headedness as a learning moment, apologize to the community for putting lives at risk, and pay his traffic fine for reckless driving. Maybe even go to traffic school or speak to recruits at the Police Academy about the dangers of thinking that you’re above the law because you carry a badge and a gun. You know, the stuff about a police officer being a role model, those old-fashioned values so out of fashion these days.
But he’s not that special.
When it comes to paying for the crime, Officer Lopez is like the rest of us: He has hired a lawyer and he’s contesting the ticket. Never mind that his recklessness and his commentary were all caught on camera.
His lawyer now says he wasn’t even speeding.
Trooper Watts got it right. Still no respect for the people he serves, no respect for the law he represents, and no character at all.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/01/2 ... z1cXPMemzl (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/01/2482825/speeding-cop-has-gall-but-no-character.html#ixzz1cXPMemzl)