Red flags: Michael Pizzi ran from crash, changes story

Whispers of a cover up are getting louder in and around Miami Lakes, where Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi wrapped his car around a tree last week and ran from the scene of the accident, only to return less than an hour later.

He left again without so much as a warning, and details that continue to come out raise questions about the way police handled the case.

The 911 call, of which a recording was released Thursday, shows that Pizzi ran, not walked from the vehicle after colliding with the tree around 8:20 p.m. That should have been a red flag right there.

“There’s a car that just had an accident with a tree, and the guy left, running,” the caller told a police dispatcher.

“The guy hit the tree and he left running away on foot?” the dispatcher asked.

“Yeah. And he left the car right in the middle of the street,” the caller replied.

Red flag number two.

“And he’s bleeding heavily.”

Red flag number three.

“The vehicle hit a tree and I saw a guy in a red shirt running out,” the caller said, describing the man as “a little heavyset” and wearing a red shirt and dark pants.

When police arrived to the scene of the accident, there was blood on the ground, on the seat, on the door, on the floor board and on the airbag that had deployed from the steering wheel. There was significant damage to the front of the car and the windshield. They called traffic homicide detectives because no victim could be found.

But it looks, from the supplemental report obtained by Ladra Thursday, like Miami Lakes District Officer Ronald Perez knew by then that the black Kia Optima was registered to the mayor in his city.

So did Traffic Homicide Det. Oscar Perez. By the time he arrived, Pizzi was already back. The mayor had returned a few minutes earlier and was sitting in the passenger seat of a friend’s car. What friend? We don’t know. The supplemental police report doesn’t say. Det. Perez and Traffic Homicide Det. Wanda Milian, a “drug recognition specialist,” asked Pizzi to give them a formal statement, which he did, in their vehicle.

Pizzi told them that he was coming back from a meeting at town hall when “a large animal” ran across the road. He said he lost control after he swerved to avoid the animal and hit the tree.

“Mayor Pizzi stated he struck in the head and was shaken up,” the report said, and Ladra smells his criminal defense argument, should he need one. Remember, that’s how he’s been able to get away with stuff — the fire at his office that “burned” $200,000 from clients, the threats to plant cocaine in an enemy’s car and then mess with his brakes, the bogus grant scheme for which he was arrested in 2013 — he knows how to talk.

The mayor told the detectives he got out and walked to a friend’s house, to call a tow truck, then asked his friend — whoever that is — to take him back to the scene of the crash.

Apparently, Pizzi never thought to call the police.

Red flag number four.

Still, for whatever reason, the accident “did not meet the criteria of a hit and run crash,” the report states, adding that Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Denise Goerges was contacted and that she concurred: It was nothing.

And just like that, Michael Pizzi gets away with it again.

Pizzi just got back into office after having been suspended in August 2013 by Gov. Rick Scott because was arrested on federal bribery charges. But despite what seemed like an open shut case, Pizzi was found not guilty last year of knowingly taking part in a bogus grant scheme for kickbacks he allegedly got — unmarked envelopes full of cash left for him in the bathroom at a pool hall or handed to him in a closet at County Hall.

A criminal defense attorney, Pizzi also knows how to talk in order to cast enough doubt on what you are saying. That is why he is always so hard to understand, even on the dais. The feds who got him on tape got him consistently saying he wasn’t going to do anything if it wasn’t remotely possible that his city could benefit.

He wasn’t as smooth Thursday with CBS 4’s Gary Nelson, who dropped in on the mayor giving away flashlights for hurricane season. Pizzi told Nelson that he had gone “across the street to my house” — which is (1) not across the street but rather several blocks away and (2) not what he told police.

He also changed his story about his cellphone First, it wasn’t “operable,” which could mean anything. If I didn’t want my call in a crunch to a certain someone in a call history, I would say that phone is “inoperable.” Then he said “I didn’t have it with me.” Which is it Muscles?

Ladra sees red flags everywhere.

Also, Mike, cellphone records obtained by Ladra show you used it just a few minutes earlier at 8 p.m. The next itemized call is at 10 a.m. the next morning. There are no phone calls during the time of the accident, but an attorney would know not to make any from his phone when he could run to his friend’s house and make them there.

At least he was consistent with his Town Hall story. “I was at city hall, meeting with some constituents,” Pizzi told him, about where he was before heading home.

But Nelson had followed up on rumors that Pizzi had been at Cancun Grill and said that the manager there confirmed it.

“I don’t recall being at the Cancun,” is all Pizzi could muster. Recall? Recall? You don’t recall? If you weren’t there, you say you weren’t there. You don’t say you don’t recall.

Unless, of course, you really tied one on. Hey, maybe he left his phone there!

Recall is something he could defend later. Remember the cut on his forehead from the accident. He was “shaken up.”

He also may know that there is allegedly video and a receipt that will show he was, indeed, there. So he might recall later. Ladra was told that the police are going to serve subpoenas for both.

But are they? Because it doesn’t look like they’ve done much in the way of investigation so far. In fact, it looks like they’ve gone out of their way to give Pizzi yet another pass.

Think about it. They should have questioned his friend and taken a formal statement from him. They should have taken photographs of the car but did not. Isn’t that standard? Wouldn’t you want those in case something came up later? Aren’t those needed for insurance purposes, if nothing else? They should have noted whether or not Pizzi was wearing the same clothing — red shirt and dark pants — or had changed. They should have interviewed whoever Pizzi said he was meeting with. Heck, they can still do that.

But now the worst that we might find is more than just a DUI for a beleaguered and controversial mayor.

Now, it looks like the bigger problem is police may have helped him cover that DUI up. Too many red flags.

Miami Lakes politics, Michael Pizzi, public corruption

Red flags: Michael Pizzi ran from crash, changes story added by Ladra on June 26, 2015
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