We may get some answers at Thursday’s city commission meeting
What is it with the city of Miami Police and car crashes?
First, it was Commander Nerly Papier who crashed into a curb, nearly killing two pedestrians, busting her tires and driving her unmarked vehicle through a red light on its rims. She and her husband were fired for allegedly covering up the accident and recently rehired by the interim chief who is undoing everything former Chief Art Acevedo did.
Then it was Acevedo, who apparently had some fender damage spotted on his vehicle. He told Ladra he must have been struck by another car in a parking lot or something and didn’t know it. But many haters, including the Three Amigos, still believe that Acevedo simply failed to report the incident.
Now, we have a third accident, involving a police officer serving as a Sergeant at Arms to Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla. The Dean wasn’t driving, mind you. He never is. Ladra isn’t sure he even has a driver’s license.
Read related: Video shows Miami Police commander nearly hit pedestrians in cover-up crash
But the crash at the corner of Beacom Boulevard and Southwest 7th Street on Jan. 5 has caused intrigue because of the way it happened: Late at night, returning from the funeral of a good friend’s mother, with a female passenger in the city car that could be a date or could be a staffer or could be both. Because there is some reason why ADLP reportedly didn’t want either him or his passenger or both named in the accident report.
Their names are certainly on there now because everyone found out about it. Even ADLP admitted it to the Miami Herald and said it was just a “minor car accident.” Diaz de la Portilla, 57, also told the Herald he was riding with his community liaison, Vanessa Garcia Azzam, 39, and that he did not ask to have anything left off the report.
But a phone call to the city attorney to ask how to properly document just a “minor car accident” is just not typical. Neither is a drive-by by another city elected who just “heard about” it from his own Sergeant at Arms.
Sounds like an episode of House of Cards — except there’s no way Commissioner Joe Carollo could have caused this accident. Although he may have caused the information to get out in emails and online.
Ladra requested the accident report from the Jan. 5 accident and all supplemental reports, as well as the bodycam footage from all the officers who responded. The report had to be filed within 10 days of the incident — which means it’s there already — but the department doesn’t have to release it for two months. And it looks like they have no intention to.
“Crash reports are confidential and exempt under Florida Statute 316.066(2)(a) for a period of sixty (60) days following the date the report is filed. Unfortunately, you will need to request the report after the 60 days have elapsed,” Assistant City Attorney Thomas Fossler told Ladra in an email.
Well, unfortunately, this makes the accident all the more suspect. The city is seriously going to hold the reports for the whole 60 days that it legally can? Why is that? Would they do that for every accident report? Ladra bets we could prove that they don’t. So it’s selective enforcement of the statute? Is that legal?
Mark your calendars for March 6th, Fossler told Ladra in a follow-up email.
“The 60th day is a Sunday so realistically it’d be the following Monday,” Fossler said, and it reminded me of their terrible math for the recall deadline. “As for the body camera, it is not subject to the same 60-day exemption per F.S. 316.066(1)(a) (though the portion where they are filling out the report may be), however, I have been advised that the body camera footage is confidential and exempt under F.S. 112.532(4)(b) / 112.533(2)(a) / 119.071(2)(k).”
Wait. So no body cam footage? Ladra isn’t sure that’s true. We’ve gotten body cam video before. Remember that illegal nightclub in Allapattah that ADLP was hanging out in. And we see it all the time on the TV news.
Fossler really earned his paycheck this week. But Ladra’s getting a second opinion.
Read related: Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla may have tried to cover up car accident
Why are they digging in their heels? Wouldn’t it be in the commissioner’s best interest, if he did nothing wrong, to have the report and body cam video released right away? Why does he want to leave everyone speculating, asking so many questions.
Whose fault was the accident? Was it Det. Stanley Paul-Noel‘s, who was driving the city vehicle but is not normally a taxpayer-paid chauffeur for Miami electeds? Was he distracted? By what? Or was it the other driver? Was that driver or anyone in the other car injured? Was anyone hospitalized or treated by EMS at the scene? Were both drivers tested for sobriety? And what kind of vehicle was the other car? What kind of damage was done? What is the inventory of the contents in the city SUV at the time of the accident? Where are the photographs and diagrams?
What did the city attorney say to the officer who needed guidance in writing a routine accident report? What did Commissioner Joe Carollo — who happened to drive by to rubberneck — do at the scene that he wouldn’t have even been at for you or me?
“I know you have a few other requests in and can assure you that we are actively working on them,” Fossler added and then sent a follow-up. “We have been reaching out to the two Commissioners but have not heard back from them yet. We’ll be reaching out frequently to obtain these records.”
He must be referring to the request for phone calls and text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 from Diaz de la Portilla, Carollo and City Attorney Victoria Mendez, who apparently explained to the officer on the scene how to document the report.
“I was called and explained to MPD how to properly document an accident,” Mendez told Ladra a week after the accident.
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But what does that mean? Does that mean she said it was okay or not okay to leave someone’s name out. Did she say not to call traffic investigators or give sobriety tests? Why else would a city attorney need to be involved in a “minor car accident,” right?
Ladra still doesn’t have those phone records either.
But we might get some answers to our questions on Thursday because Carollo has a discussion item on the agenda that seems to reference the accident: “A DISCUSSION REGARDING JANUARY 5, 2022,” it says ominously.
Why on Earth would he want to bring this up again if Diaz de la Portilla didn’t even want it reported in the first place? Is the break-up make-up fake? Las malas lenguas say there’s still mistrust behind those crocodile smiles. Is Crazy Joe, who craves revenge, still mad at ADLP for embarrassing him at several public meetings? It would not surprise Ladra if Carollo leaked the info. He probably has cellphone photos (read: insurance).
Neither commissioner returned calls and texts to their phones.
Maybe Carollo is going to talk about “establishing protocols” for when city commissioners or employees are involved in car accidents involving city vehicles, a fan of the commissioner’s suggested to Ladra.
It’s possible. One might expect the city already has those protocols, particularly after the last two high-profile car accidents. Or even that the protocols should be the same as they are for anybody else.
But apparently not.
More questions on that crash with Miami commissioner ADLP in the car added by Ladra on
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