Articles Posted in DUI

A warning from Fort Lauderdale DUI Lawyer Richard Ansara. With Memorial Day just around the corner you can be sure that the police agencies throughout Broward County will be out in force! Please pay particular attention to the 4500 block of State Road 7 in Hollywood. The Florida Highway Patrol will be checking vehicles for faulty equipment as well as driver’s licenses and registration checks all while looking out for impaired drivers.

Additionally, the Broward Sheriff’s Office will be at the corner of the 1000 block of East Oakland Park Boulevard from 10 p.m. Friday until 3 a.m. Saturday.

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Four Hollywood Florida Police Officers are being accused of faking a crash report. The entire incident was accidently caught by the on board dash camera. They were identified Tuesday as Dewey Pressley, Joel Francisco, Andrew Diaz and Karim Thomas. They’re on administrative duty pending an investigation.

It is alleged that Officer Joel Francisco accidently rear ended a vehicle. The Officer then placed the individual under arrest for drunken driving related charges. A video depicts the Officers apparently attempting to create a story in which blame for the accident could be placed on the other driver. Apparently, the Officers were unaware that the entire incident was being recorded. The accident report written by Officer Pressly states that the driver of the other vehicle was distracted when a cat sitting on her lap caused her to loose control striking the officers vehicle. The Broward County Office of the State Attorney has agreed to drop the driving under the influence charges stemming from this incident.

ANSARA RESPONDS
It appears that the Broward County Office of the State Attorney has taken the initiative to drop all charges stemming from the incident involving these Hollywood Police Officers in this particular case. However, what is the Broward County Office of the State Attorney doing to investigate other arrests by these officers? It appears to me that the Broward County Office of the State Attorney has a duty to further investigate pending and prior arrests involving these officers. The Hollywood Police Department is no stranger to scandal. Recently the Department was shaken when the FBI arrested fellow Hollywood Police Officers. The FBI posed as an underground criminal ring and used the Hollywood Police Officers as protection during drug transports.

Retired FBI agent Jack Garcia was one of the undercover operatives and gave his account of the investigation in a book published last year. In an interview last October, he said of his dealings with the Hollywood Police Department: “What was amazing to me is that it was so easy to get cops to look the other way, to guard trucks for us, no questions asked. I’d never seen anything like it.”

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The Sun-Sentinel Published a story today alleging that Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Grady managed to keep his job despite numerous complaints from women regarding his behavior.

A review of Grady’s service record by the Sun Sentinel turned up complaints from women over the years who claimed the deputy had berated, belittled, molested, fondled, hog-tied or pepper-sprayed them. In 2006, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office paid $7,500.00 to settle a claim after the Deputy hog-tied a Broward County DUI suspect while she was in her holding cell. Yet, the Deputy still managed to keep his badge, his gun, and the ability to harm the public at large.

After recent complaints by female Broward County DUI suspects, Deputy Grady was charged by the Office of the State Attorney with two counts of misdemeanor battery. The Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy received two years probation. However, as part of the plea deal the State Attorney’s Office has agreed not to prosecute the Deputy for armed sexual battery. This incident allegedly occurred when the Deputy forced a woman to perform oral sex on him while at gunpoint.

Prosecutor David Schulson insisted Grady received no special treatment because he was a sheriff’s deputy, and said the stripper’s complaint would not have held up in court because “there was no independent evidence supporting [the victim’s] allegations, forensic or otherwise.”

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BOCA RATON – Florida Highway Patrol charged a 20-year-old Boca Raton woman with two counts of negligent manslaughter and drunken driving relating to a fatal car accident that killed two people.
Daniela Torres was arrested Monday afternoon following a six-month investigation into the crash, which happened on Interstate 95 near Palmetto Park Road in August.

Torres was on her way home from work at a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and driving about 85 mph when she changed lanes and rear-ended a slower-moving sedan driven by James Andrew Carr, 42. Torres’ Saab pushed the sedan onto a grass shoulder, and it overturned. Carr and passengers Deborah Peterson, 44, and Calvin Braggs were ejected. Carr and Peterson were killed. A witness said she was weaving from the outside lane to the center lane when she hit the sedan.

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Former Yankee Jim Leyritz caught a legal break Tuesday when a Broward circuit judge released him from jail.

Leyritz, facing DUI manslaughter charges stemming from the December 2007 crash that killed Fredia Veitch, 30, in Fort Lauderdale. A court-ordered monitoring device showed he drove four times with alcohol in his system since September, a violation of his bond.

Attorneys agreed in court this week that Leyritz should be released from jail because of a technicality that voided the warrant for his arrest that had been signed by Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold.
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Florida’s “Move Over” law states in part:

316.126 Operation of vehicles and actions of pedestrians on approach of authorized emergency vehicle.–

(b) When an authorized emergency vehicle making use of any visual signals is parked or a wrecker displaying amber rotating or flashing lights is performing a recovery or loading on the roadside, the driver of every other vehicle, as soon as it is safe:

1. Shall vacate the lane closest to the emergency vehicle or wrecker when driving on an interstate highway or other highway with two or more lanes traveling in the direction of the emergency vehicle or wrecker, except when otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer.

ANSARA RESPONDS

This law was enacted with the intent to do one simple thing; prevent Florida law enforcement from being hurt or killed by oncoming vehicles while on a traffic stop. However, critics of the Florida “Move Over” law are alleging that the Move Over law is being abused by Florida Law Enforcement.

It has been referred to as the “Move Over Trap”. An officer will wait on the side of the road with his lights on simply to use the Move Over law as justification to conduct a traffic stop. Florida law enforcement knows that simple traffic stops often turn into arrests for crimes such as drug possession and driving under the influence.

I recently asked a Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy about his thoughts on the Florida Move Over law.
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