UPDATED: Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz is known 
as the road safety go-to guy at the county. He has pushed for legislation that increases the penalties on hit-and-run drivers and regularly advocates for safer bike lanes for cyclists.
But on Saturday night Diaz was arrested on DUI charges in Key West. where we assume he was for the Key West Poker Run, a motorcycle event that draws thousands of bikers and raises funds for charity.
The online record says he was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs — but it doesn’t say which.
He probably should have been charged with reckless driving also.
Key West police spokeswoman Alyson Crean told Ladra that Diaz was caught driving his Harley Davidson motorcycle 74 MPH in a 30 MPH zone on a stretch of South Roosevelt Blvd. that has just been repaved and was the scene of a fatal hit-and-run last week.
“When he got off the motorcycle, he failed to put down the kick stand and he dropped the bike,” 
Crean said. The officer conducted a road sobriety test — basically saw how he was walking and talking and if he could bring his finger to his nose — and Diaz, 55, was arrested in the 3100 block of South Roosevelt Boulevard at 7:48 p.m.
We won’t know if he declined the breathalyzer test for blood alcohol level until Monday and we can get our paws on his arrest report. He probably did if he was hammered. Politicians don’t like their blood alcohol level to be known. But that could bring him an automatic suspension of his driver’s license for one year.
Elected in 2002, he is termed out in 2018. But this might refuel a recall that some have threatened him with. CORRECTION: Been told that he is not termed out until 2022 because of grandfather clauses. So Ladra can’t wait to see the mailers with his mugshot.
It appears that Diaz — who was raising funds for children with cancer — spent the night in jail. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office website had him listed as an inmate at the Key West jail at 1 p.m. A bond had been set for $1,000 but he may have to remain in custody until a hearing Monday.
UPDATE: He was not listed as an inmate later in the 
afternoon and WPLG Channel 10 reported that he had posted bond.
But Ladra doubts he will be sleeping in his own bed tonight either. Unless he’s hanging out at a friend’s house and goes home after 11 p.m., when the TV cameras who have been camped there all day finally leave.
Nobody answered his cell phone Sunday morning. Ladra was also unable to reach members of his staff.
Last year, Diaz traveled to Tallahassee to urge the passing of the Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act, which would impose a minimum mandatory sentence of four years for drivers who flee the scene of a fatal accident – the same as for DUI manslaughter. The law was named in honor of cyclist Aaron Cohen, who was killed in 2012 on the Rickenbacker Causeway by a hit-and-run driver who was sentenced to less than a year in jail because there was insufficient evidence to prove he was drunk.
“This bill is a matter of safety and justice,” Commissioner Diaz said in a statement after the bill was passed. “It will eliminate the incentive for drunk drivers to flee the scene of an accident to escape a breathalyzer test while their blood alcohol levels are still high in order to avoid a DUI manslaughter charge.”
He also one of the PBA’s best buds on the commission and recently sponsored a 600-bike motorcycle parade in Tropical Park to support local police.
Earlier this month, he sponsored a resolution that would explore convertint some county two-way roads into one-way streets either permanently or during peak traffic hours.
But maybe what he really wants is to have a clear road to drive home when he’s drunk — without any oncoming traffic.
Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz arrested on DUI in Key West added by Ladra on
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Hey Mark! You misspelled your last name (Sarnoff).
A loose translation for Sarnoso. Best,
Mark Sternoff,
Your so educated. Your points are ignorant and obviously corrupt. Is your daughter one of those that hang around Pepe holding his tolete or do you do that yourself? As you can see your points are way off base.
Forgive me anonymous individual, we live in a free country and we are entitled to express our own opinions. This is a blog open to anyone who wishes to comment but obviously in your perspective any opinion other than yours deserves a response more apt for a gutter than a public forum. Unlike you, I have moved beyond second grade so I leave you to your cluttered mind and wish you a nice life.
I want to know what happened to the video, the story and the mugshots that were online of the arrest of attorney now judge Alberto Milian. Didn’t milian say the appartment building he apparently ran into was too dark to see and needed lights like the airport? spoken like a true attorney. Wasnt there another Judge that ran into a fence at the jail or something and blamed it on pills? Back to Milian… who elected him? I didnt even know he was running (for office) LOL he did claim he ran in the mornings because he was so busy working on client cases or was it defending cops charged with crimes while not working on other cases? Mr Diaz will probably go before jdge Milian. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Lopez Cantera sponsored HB137 PASSED. Calls for automatic Forfeiture of a Motorcycle(not automobile) for exceeding posted speed limit by 1 MPH over and additional $2000 Fine. Mr Diaz motorcycle was turned over to a police officer buddy by one og the Key West officers the media knows it and covered it up so his bike will not get seized and sold at aution or fined $2000 so dont think the police was hard on him. additianally the police apparenly have video and statements that diaz traveling over 70MPH was trying to catch up to his police buddies so how fast were they going? Well never know since its the same media covered up POTUS aunt and uncle(dui)that resided in the us undocumented with 3 letters of deportation each for over 20 years and documented in the end.
Mark take your Mary Jane and jump of the freedom tower. To say Never, please Diaz is in office because of the Sweetwater Ballot Mafia that stems from key west to Tally just look at Gov. Scott. Exactly ain’t got caught, who’s going to catch him cause if it wasn’t for a line firefighter and a line PI thing would of ever happened in Miami Dade and nothing will ever happen again. They were exposed and now they fixed the glitch and have continued to get elected. And to run for office against these corrupt SOB is just a waste of time, the dirty money and special interest dollars will buy any reporter out just look at the reports made here. Almost every police department is controlled by these clowns and nothing moVes forward and when it does it dies out or washed away. This is the favor capital of the Nation, a cest pool of shit, and no plumbers. The good ones have given up and simple realized this Paridise Is Lost. You tell me how in 2012 a Black Attorney with a great record looses in a demacratic race against a white wannabee Hispanic when she wants to be washed out drunk state attorney who can’t and won’t prosecute real criminals in this county. The answer was in everyone’s face “Total and complete Ballot Fraud” but it was a presidential Race to many strings would of been pulled if this can be opened all the way. So now the fixing is in and no more mistakes, let the rats play while we the cats work and bust out humps.
Mangito “vagito” empesastes mal mi hijo. It’s bajito not “vagito”. Obviously your handle of the Spanish language is as bad as that of the English language. Apply the same logic I suggested to Too Funny and just add spell check to your ramblings.
Wow, Mark Sternoff,
Your logic is so troubling. Everybody go out, drive under the influence, and put innocent lives in harms way. However, if you do, god forbid, kill an innocent life, it is okay, because you were fundraising for a worthy cause. I am telling you this country is going to shit because of idiotic statements and mentality such as yours.
Too Funny, what is really troubling is your level (or lack of) of comprehension. Pick up a book, newspaper or any other publication from time to time and that should ease the spread of cobwebs in your head.
Good thing State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has a personal chauffer or else she could have been arrested 5000 times in the last 20 years for driving under the influence (and that is the person who enforces the law in this county). As for the Pepe bashers howling for a piece of meat, keep in mind that though he and he alone is solely responsible for his predicament, he was originally in the keys on a motorcycle run trying to raise funds for the needy and unlike the Gimenez’s and Pizzi’s of this world, he has never bought absentee ballots from the elderly or infirmed nor has he been caught taking bribes from the FBI at the local pool hall. Lesson learned, pay the piper and move on Pepe.
Pepe and the Mayor of Miami Lakes should go out on the town together and hit a wall on the way home.
Do more than gripe,
So why don’t you run?
It’s all nice and dandy to gripe about a pol who commits a wrong. But Miami-Dade citizens need to do more than gripe. We need to have candidates who will throw their hats into the ring and challenge such pols when they come up for reelection.
I say this because, arguably, the most lamentable local political news of last week was not the arrest of Diaz but the automatic reelection, by default, of Francis Suarez.
Not implying Mr. Suarez wasn’t worthy of reelection. Am saying that he should at least have drawn a challenger so that the voters could render a verdict on his service by making a choice at the ballot box in November. That won’t happen now in his race, all because nobody else decided to get into the race.
Sad commentary on the state of politics in this county when people gripe, but won’t do much more than that. If you don’t like Mr. Diaz for his poor decision in the Keys this past weekend, then for Pete’s sake, don’t let him go unchallenged when he next comes up for election.
Poetic justice! This mother fucker when he was Mayor of Sweetwater along with convicted felon Manny Marono was widely responsible for corrupting the City and the police force. They used the police force to illegally tow vehicles, convert the property and transfer the vehicle title to Absolute Towing/Southeast Towing property and sell the vehicles for monetary gain.
These mother fuckers have done this for years. The State Attorney’s Office have known this and refuses to arrest and prosecute.
Don’t you love body cameras the police is wearing. Now they can’t cover up any wrongdoing by politicians in exchange for political favors such as Union Contracts giving the police outrageous pay and benefits.
Ladra, do I have a point?
I’m glad this piece of shit got arrested but for an entirely different reason than most of the other readers of this blog. This is one of a handful of assholes sitting on the current commission that keep refusing to do away with BSL (breed specific legislation) which is getting Staffordshire Bull Terriers killed or kept in cages at that God forsaken hell hole we call Miami-Dade Animal Control. In fact this mother fucker came up with the “bright” idea of having a “Dangerous Dog Registry.” REALLY??? Who is a danger to our society now, Mr. Jose Pepinga Diaz??? My father was an alcoholic. He drove my brother and I at dangerously high speeds down the Palmetto one time when we were kids. We begged our mother to not make us go with him anywhere. Thank God she heard our pleas. I think driving at more the 40 miles per hour above the posted speed limit qualifies this dickhead to be listed on his Dangerous Dog Registry. And I don’t think he spent nearly enough times behind bars all things considered.
Don’t remnd me, I was required to carry $300,000 insurance for each puppy (2) notwithstanding the county own records in the 80’s when the law was passed reflected APBT had the least incidents of bites. Every politician I spoke with admitted they were rubberstamping what the public brainwashed by the fear mongering media wanted. Jose Diaz Balart (I’ll just call him placeholder like most reporters since he’s not a journalist) was one of the fear mongerers. Same Jose Diaz Balart brother of the Balart brothers who are the compinches of Ileana Ros whos under her definition of dictator is a dictator herself been dictator for now longer than Castro was president.
Resign or Recall?
I’m hoping for recall…your ousting will be much more enjoyable!
This County Don’t have Moral “OR ” Ethics. What We Have A Great Deal Of Public Corruption Starting With The OIG and Ethics Department . See last Ethics Resolutions on Hialeah, Miami , Sweet water , Miami Lakes and Others A Hand Slap !
Ladra I am of the strong opinion that all these elected officials and thier county payed staffers should be tested for drugs randomly and without any warning. See That it happens and we’ll see a great big clean up, even as far up as the Mayors office, many of them have never been put thru the hiring process that the county government employee goes thru, especially morally and ethically, you’ll be very surprised to see who’s being hired.
Rudy when’s your third arrest coming. So you can take your lane ass story thier and tell it to your cell mate when he’s on top of you. Rudy get Pepe your Lawyers number cause he’s going to need one in the keys, no back door deals down there, no retaliation methods down there.
Guys the keys is a creator of another demention, I hace met Pepe and he is a little clumsy and walks with a small limp. Two years ago I was arrested for DUI in the keys when I was taken to the station I had a .02 and they still wouldnt release me till I took a 2nd test which was also way below the legal limit. The main reason for my arrest was for tripping when I got out of my car. FYI I have had 4 operations on my left leg which they where not hearing. In the end a judge throw out the arrest but it still shows on my driving record as a dismissal.
Take a look at the Commission website of this “elected official.” He’s surrounded by his “staff” consisting of young good looking women. He uses a large portion of his office allowance to pay their salaries. I’m glad I’m not in his district.
Recall “Pepe”? I’ll drink to THAT!!
The expression on his face in that mugshot says it all!
Well it’s about time they bust his nuts, he’s clearly a clinical alcoholic. He needs to start that 12 step program ASAP, he probably forgot that Monroe is not Miami Dade after his second cosmopolitan drink. Was he riding a ninja bike at that speed, he should of rented a scooter hope his Rolex didn’t get damaged on the fall. This is the perfect example of what happens to these clowns when their head gets bigger than their buts, be smart hire a driver like the Mayor does or get one of your MDPD buddies to hang tight with you when you act like a fool. So under Occupation, doesn’t this guy have a real job on the side, cause that 6k a year ain’t paying his extravagant life style. Was he a CFO or CEO of some construction company that deals at the airport? Maybe if he tell the Key West Police he was just some regular hardworking citizen he might of Horton a break, but I bet his first words to the cop was ” hey I am Pepe Diaz, Dade county Commisioner” don’t you know who I am, I pay your salary! And the next thing you here was leather breaking as the cuffs came out. Hope he gets kick out the Dias, one by one corruption clean up is what we need.
Great Job Key West PD
Who will be defending him on this DUI charge? One thing South Florida does not have is a dearth of DUI attorneys…
nice guy, when sober
He should resign we don’t need people like
him in office. He wants people to understand
and feel for him. He could have have killed
someone’s family member. He should be held
to a higher standard. No sympathy here!