And now the commission may reward the driver with a new job
Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was involved in a car accident last week in a city vehicle driven by a Miami police officer and now there’s apparently an internal affairs investigation.
Someone also sent a complaint to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office because there is an alleged cover-up as to the circumstances of the crash.
Diaz de la Portilla had reportedly recently left the funeral for Caridad “Cary” Hernandez, the mother of his good friend and confidante former Commissioner Humberto Hernandez. It was at Caballero Rivero Funeral home, 3344 SW 8th St., on Wednesday, Jan. 5, and ended at 10 p.m.
About an hour later, and just blocks away, the vehicle he was in t-boned another car at the corner of Beacom Boulevard and Southwest 7th Street.
Two police sources and two other sources told Ladra that the police officer driving the car — identified by a high-ranking source as Det. Stanley Paul-Noel — suffered a head injury and the commissioner hurt his knee. Paul-Noel is not a sergeant at arms, but multiple sources say he is the go-to when all the others were already assigned, probably to the mayor.
The sources also say there was a woman in the car with the commissioner.
Some say it was a married woman who is influential in the community. But who knows? It could have been ghost employee Jenny Nillo. Or his latest chief of staff, Karly Fortuna. Everyone wants to know who the mystery woman is. Former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, who has a YouTube show called Sin Mordaza now, said on Tuesday that he didn’t want to speculate.
But this lady, whoever she is, is why the accident may have turned into a cover-up.
ADLP allegedly did not want the woman’s name in the report. He may not even have wanted his own name in the report. Sources say he didn’t want photographs taken. As many might imagine, he can get bossy with the help.
It got to the point where City Attorney Victoria Mendez was called, sources said. Some sources say Commissioner Joe Carollo was called, too, but why would ADLP call him. More likely someone in the police department tipped Crazy Joe off and he went to get more shit on his former BFF-turned-nemesis.
Neither commissioner would return calls and texts from Ladra. But Mendez confirmed that she was contacted about the car crash.
“I was called and explained to MPD how to properly document an accident,” Mendez texted Ladra late Wednesday after trying to get information about the crash for days. She didn’t answer any other questions.
But how does a police officer — a lieutenant, actually, was reportedly called to the scene — not know how to write a typical accident report? Especially after so many officers got in trouble for covering up that last vehicular accident in a city car driven by a police officer. She and her husband were fired for the cover-up, though they may have recently been rehired (more on that later).
Read related: Miami’s new police chief moves to fire husband and wife team after cover-up
Does explaining how to properly document an accident mean telling an experienced officer that yes, absolutely, you have to include every passenger’s name? Or does it mean Tricky Vicky found a way around that?
She wouldn’t identify whether or not the woman in the vehicle was a city employee. But she did say that it could have been.
“My understanding is that Sgt at arms vehicles allow non city of miami employees in cars as passengers with elected officials,” Mendez said. “Regular City take home vehicles do not allow non employee passengers.”
She also said she doesn’t have a call history on her cellphone for Jan. 5 or the early morning hours of Jan. 6. “You only have those the day of the calls,” she wrote in an email. “I don’t have the service that prints out incoming and outgoing calls for the month.”
Later she said her recent calls only go back to Monday.
Well, what kind of ancient phone do you have, Vicky? Most phones these ays have a long list of recent calls, often categorized by incoming, outgoing and missed. Those are usually in red. Ladra’s list goes back to Jan. 2 and that’s with several dozen calls on most days. It’s hard to believe Mendez doesn’t have one — unless she erases it intentionally.
Did Mendez tell them to make sure to test the driver for alcohol or drug use? Was the police captain that crashed her car ever tested?
Read related: Miami fires code officer who refused to ‘protect’ ADLP
Ladra has asked for all the incident, accident and supplemental reports from last week’s accident and made a public records request for the body cam footage of the officers who responded. Nothing yet. But if you were in the vehicle that was t-boned, can you please get in touch?
Because the sources who have been right about most everything else so far also say that the lieutenant who wrote the report hasn’t signed it or submitted it because he’s nervous. It could be a crime to leave off the name of a passenger. It is certainly wrong. But could he be fired if he does the right thing?
Decisions, decisions.
Interestingly enough, there is an item on the city of Miami Commission agenda Thursday, sponsored by Diaz de la Portilla, to amend the annual police department budget and create and fund an additional sergeant at arms position to protect the mayor and commissioners.
Ladra wonders when it was added to the agenda.
Las malas lenguas say it is a reward to Det. Paul-Noel for keeping secrets.
Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla may have tried to cover-up car accident added by Ladra on
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