Two former south Florida police officers handcuffed a homeless man final month and drove him to an remoted space the place they beat him unconscious, prosecutors alleged Thursday.
According to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Hialeah metropolis officers Rafael Otano and Lorenzo Ofila, who’ve since been fired, had been responding to a disturbance at a bakery shortly after 5 p.m. on Dec. 17, once they encountered 50-year-old Jose Ortega Gutierrez, a homeless man who typically roamed the realm and was acquainted to the officers.
Ofila, 22, allegedly handcuffed Ortega Gutierrez and positioned him at the back of his marked police automobile, mentioned Fernandez Rundle and claimed surveillance footage from the realm supplied no proof that supported detaining him.
Instead of reserving Ortega Gutierrez into the native jail, Ofila and Otano, 27, allegedly drove him six miles, with their emergency lights flashing, to “an isolated and dark location, against his will,” Fernandez Rundle mentioned at a news convention.
Once there, the officers allegedly threw Gutierrez, who was nonetheless handcuffed, to the bottom and beat him, she mentioned, noting that Gutierrez later testified he awakened alone, un-handcuffed, and bleeding from the pinnacle.
An off-duty Hialeah officer strolling his canine seen Gutierrez strolling again after the incident and referred to as 911, as was described throughout a press convention. An inside investigation into the incident quickly commenced.
Prosecutors additionally arrested Ali Amin Saleh, who they allege tried to offer cowl to Ofila and Otano by providing Gutierrez cash to withhold his testimony about what occurred to him.
Gutierrez informed investigators that Saleh provided him greater than $1,000 and pressured him to signal an affidavit that acknowledged the officers didn’t assault him, despite the fact that he can’t learn, Rundle mentioned.
Ofila and Otano had been every charged with armed kidnapping, which may carry a penalty of life in jail, and one rely of battery. Ofila was additionally charged with official misconduct.
“There’s been a horrible miscarriage of justice,” Michael Pizzi, Otano’s lawyer, told ABC affiliate WPLG. “This case will be tried in a court of law and at the end of the day, it is our expectation that Mr. Otano will be exonerated and get his job back.”
It was not instantly identified whether or not Orfila or Saleh have retained attorneys.
Saleh was additionally charged with one rely of witness tampering.
“We will not allow rogue police officers to abuse their powers and to betray the public that they serve,” Rundle mentioned.
Hialeah Police Chief George Fuente added: “Let these arrests send a clear message to everyone who wears a badge, that swears to uphold the oath, that we will not accept anything less than an unblemished integrity from those that entrust us to serve and protect.”
“As Mayor I have worked closely with Chief George Fuente to create a department that is not only professional, but meets the standards that the residents of Hialeah deserve, demand, and expect. The actions of these officers fails to meet these expectations,” Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr. mentioned. “The officers involved violated numerous established policies and procedures. Therefore, after consulting with Chief Fuente, I have terminated their employment with the City of Hialeah. The actions of these two officers are not a reflection of the Department as a whole,” he continued.
The mayor additionally expressed his help for town’s police division.
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