Philip Levine has a power trip with Miami Beach Police

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine has proved, yet again, how difficult it can be for a millionaire businessman who is used to ordering folks around and getting his way to transition to that public servant role and follow the rules.

Let me get this straight:

First, Levine bullies and baits a police officer at the Art Basel after party of one of his millionaire friends. Then the mayor makes a complaint and has the officer investigated because he fired his taser three times into the ground to disperse a large and threatening crowd. Then Levine doesn’t cooperate in the investigation, refusing several attempts by Internal Affairs to interview him.

And now that Officer Giordano Cardoso is cleared of any wrongdoing after almost a dozen other witnesses describe a “mob scene,” now Levine wants a new investigation under the new police chief? To find out “what really happened,” he said. Oh, he only said he would “welcome” a new inquiry by the new chief. But this is the chief he hired and can fire — ain’t the message clear?

Will he just order new investigations until he likes the outcome?

According to both Sgt. Alejandro Bello, the union president, and Miami Beach Police Spokesman Bobby Hernandez, the only way to reopen an investigation is if there is new information or evidence.

Oh, wait, does that count his own testimony? Because Levine did not speak to investigators for this complaint. Apparently, he couldn’t be bothered. Will he suddenly have time now so that the investigation is reopened? In fact, he can’t even remember the name of the officer he spoke to the day after the incident.

Ladra calls this the Sunday morning V8 moment. C’mon, we’ve all been there — where we regret something we may have done or said on Saturday night. Or, as fellow blogger Bill Cooke put it on Random Pixels, “Perhaps the reason Levine wasn’t anxious to talk with investigators is that after sobering up, he realized his less than truthful version of events that night, might not mesh with other witness accounts.”

And there are 11 of them — eleven — who say Cardoso’s actions were not only appropriate, but quickly defused a potentially volatile situation.

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  Miami Beach politics, Philip Levine