News Dud
06-18-2006, 06:16 PM
Mannnnn this is a bad article. :roll:
Ticket is a second torment for officer
The Florida Highway Patrol is reviewing an incident in which a Miami police lieutenant was ticketed while rushing to a hospital where his son lay mortally injured.
BY JOAN FLEISCHMAN
jfleischman@MiamiHerald.com
Miami police Lt. Armando Bello was in the Florida Keys when he got word that his son, a 27-year-old Miami-Dade police officer, was critically injured in an off-duty, one-car crash at 5:45 a.m. Saturday. Bello jumped into his car and was racing north on U.S. 1, headed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, when he got stopped for speeding by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Bello, 49, told Trooper Jose Burgos the circumstances. Burgos didn't believe him. So he wrote Bello a ticket -- for doing 91 mph in a 55-mph zone. That was at 7:11 a.m.
What Bello didn't know was that doctors at JMH's Ryder Trauma Center had just pronounced his son dead at 7:08 a.m. Officer Armando Bello Jr. was on his way home from a party for a fellow police officer when his silver Lexus hit a tree at Northwest 27th Avenue and 110th Street.
FHP Lt. Col. Rick Gregory said the brass are reviewing the traffic ticket situation. ''Our concern is the sensitivity and discretion issue,'' Gregory said.
Burgos, 26, a trooper for three years, lives in Homestead and patrols upper Monroe County on the day shift. He was driving to work in his marked black-and-yellow cruiser when a motorist flagged him down to report a ''reckless driver,'' Capt. Jaime Picanol said Tuesday.
Burgos saw Bello ''passing, changing lanes, at a very high rate of speed,'' Picanol said. The trooper clocked Bello's Mercedes with radar and pulled him over at mile marker 118. Bello said he was a policeman and that he had a gun in the car. ''`My son has been involved in a serious crash,'' he told Burgos, according to Picanol. ``He's been airlifted.''
Burgos, who had watched the TV morning news, ''didn't hear anything about it,'' Picanol said. ``He didn't give it much credibility, so he wrote him a ticket.''
Burgos felt terrible when he later learned that Bello was telling the truth and that his son had died.
Bello, a 26-year Miami Police Department veteran now assigned to the communications section, once worked motorcycle patrol, doing traffic and DUI enforcement.
Burgos is a solid, ''high activity'' trooper, Picanol said. And troopers ''get so many excuses, you have to determine which is real,'' Picanol added.
Said Lt. Col Gregory: ``It is hard to put a policy in place to describe common sense, but we want to make sure every trooper understands that they have discretion and there is a need for sensitivity.''
Burgos will likely void the ticket, Picanol said. ``He's going to take care of the citation to make sure Lt. Bello won't have to go to court.''
The junior Bello was a finalist for the Dade County Police Benevolent Association's Officer of the Year award in 2005 for rescuing a driver and four children from a burning car.
Services are at 10 a.m. today at St. Brendan Catholic Church in Westchester. Burial is at Woodlawn Park South, 11655 SW 117th Ave. In lieu of flowers, the Bello family requests donations to the Police Officer Assistance Trust, 1030 NW 111th Ave., Suite 232, Miami, FL 33172.The officer told the trooper that he was "on the job" and that he was rushing to the hospital, but the trooper still didn't give him a break. :roll: At least the trooper's supervisor is going to make sure the ticket is voided.
Don't ticket other officers!!!! Stop it folks!!! :twisted:
Ticket is a second torment for officer
The Florida Highway Patrol is reviewing an incident in which a Miami police lieutenant was ticketed while rushing to a hospital where his son lay mortally injured.
BY JOAN FLEISCHMAN
jfleischman@MiamiHerald.com
Miami police Lt. Armando Bello was in the Florida Keys when he got word that his son, a 27-year-old Miami-Dade police officer, was critically injured in an off-duty, one-car crash at 5:45 a.m. Saturday. Bello jumped into his car and was racing north on U.S. 1, headed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, when he got stopped for speeding by the Florida Highway Patrol.
Bello, 49, told Trooper Jose Burgos the circumstances. Burgos didn't believe him. So he wrote Bello a ticket -- for doing 91 mph in a 55-mph zone. That was at 7:11 a.m.
What Bello didn't know was that doctors at JMH's Ryder Trauma Center had just pronounced his son dead at 7:08 a.m. Officer Armando Bello Jr. was on his way home from a party for a fellow police officer when his silver Lexus hit a tree at Northwest 27th Avenue and 110th Street.
FHP Lt. Col. Rick Gregory said the brass are reviewing the traffic ticket situation. ''Our concern is the sensitivity and discretion issue,'' Gregory said.
Burgos, 26, a trooper for three years, lives in Homestead and patrols upper Monroe County on the day shift. He was driving to work in his marked black-and-yellow cruiser when a motorist flagged him down to report a ''reckless driver,'' Capt. Jaime Picanol said Tuesday.
Burgos saw Bello ''passing, changing lanes, at a very high rate of speed,'' Picanol said. The trooper clocked Bello's Mercedes with radar and pulled him over at mile marker 118. Bello said he was a policeman and that he had a gun in the car. ''`My son has been involved in a serious crash,'' he told Burgos, according to Picanol. ``He's been airlifted.''
Burgos, who had watched the TV morning news, ''didn't hear anything about it,'' Picanol said. ``He didn't give it much credibility, so he wrote him a ticket.''
Burgos felt terrible when he later learned that Bello was telling the truth and that his son had died.
Bello, a 26-year Miami Police Department veteran now assigned to the communications section, once worked motorcycle patrol, doing traffic and DUI enforcement.
Burgos is a solid, ''high activity'' trooper, Picanol said. And troopers ''get so many excuses, you have to determine which is real,'' Picanol added.
Said Lt. Col Gregory: ``It is hard to put a policy in place to describe common sense, but we want to make sure every trooper understands that they have discretion and there is a need for sensitivity.''
Burgos will likely void the ticket, Picanol said. ``He's going to take care of the citation to make sure Lt. Bello won't have to go to court.''
The junior Bello was a finalist for the Dade County Police Benevolent Association's Officer of the Year award in 2005 for rescuing a driver and four children from a burning car.
Services are at 10 a.m. today at St. Brendan Catholic Church in Westchester. Burial is at Woodlawn Park South, 11655 SW 117th Ave. In lieu of flowers, the Bello family requests donations to the Police Officer Assistance Trust, 1030 NW 111th Ave., Suite 232, Miami, FL 33172.The officer told the trooper that he was "on the job" and that he was rushing to the hospital, but the trooper still didn't give him a break. :roll: At least the trooper's supervisor is going to make sure the ticket is voided.
Don't ticket other officers!!!! Stop it folks!!! :twisted: