Miami commissioner's car crash report shows he gave no ID; his driver at fault

The Florida traffic crash report on the January accident involving a city car with Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla in it shows that his sergeant at arms was at fault for the collision.

And we only know that the commissioner was in the car because it was leaked to Ladra and became a story before the report became public. He admitted it, but that was several days after, and when asked. There is no mention of him in the actual crash report.

“There was a passenger inside of vehicle #1 and he refused to provide any information,” reads the report, which was prepared and/or signed by Officer E. Carter.

At least he is mentioned as an unidentified person. A mystery female passenger Diaz de la Portilla has already identified as one of his staffers isn’t listed at all. How come? Did she Uber home? Before police arrived?

The report, completed Jan. 26, also puts the fault of the Jan. 5 accident — which caused $9,000 of damage to the city’s rental car but totalled the 2008 Mercedes it hit — on Det. Stanley Paul-Noel, the sergeant at arms who bodyguards Diaz de la Portilla night and day. The report, which also has a diagram of the intersection, says Paul-Noel “operated the motor vehicle in a careless or negligent manner.”

It doesn’t say if Paul-Noel was ticketed. It doesn’t say if he got a roadside sobriety test. It says there was no alcohol use suspected. But, you know, those are his boys.

So, there’s a lot lacking besides the passenger’s information.

Is that how City Attorney Victoria Mendez told an officer on the scene how to write the report? Because she admits to being contacted — which certainly doesn’t happen after every accident with a city car.

“I was called and explained to MPD how to properly document an accident,” Mendez texted Ladra in January.

In a Miami Herald story following Political Cortadito’s scoop, Commissioner Joe Carollo — who stopped by the accident — said he was the one who called Mendez and put her on with the officer. With the on-again, off-again love affair between these two — and Crazy Joe’s history — it may have been Carollo who leaked the info about the accident.

Diaz de la Portilla admitted to being in the car when he spoke to the Herald. He said it was no big deal. So then why did he try to hide that he was there? Was he supposed to be someplace else?

Paul-Noel and ADLP were on their way back from the funeral for former Miami Commissioner Humberto Hernandez‘s mother about 10:45 p.m. Jan. 5 when they apparently collided with the Mercedez on Beacom Boulevard at Southwest 7th Street. The traffic light was not working, the report states.

“Driver #2 stated he treated the intersection as a four-way stop,” Officer Carter wrote about Gregory Pedro Fernandez, who was driving the Mercedes. “Driver #1 [Paul-Noel] stated that he did not know the lights were inoperative at the time of the crash. Driver #2 proceeded through the intersection and collided with Driver#1 at an angle.”

So, in other words, the sergeant at arms basically blew through the intersection. What was the hurry? That wasn’t in the report, either.

Maybe some of these questions will be answered in the internal affairs investigation that an assistant city attorney told Ladra about. Or maybe we will get answers from a separate Florida Department of Law Enforcement inquiry that is also looking into the actions taken by Police Chief Manny Morales on that incident, according to the very police chief.

“I am a principal of that investigation,” Morales said at a public meeting in February. “Nobody else is more looking forward to the conclusion. Also for my name to be cleared of any allegations.”

What allegations? Was he the one who told the responding officer that the commissioner’s name did not have to appear on the report? Nobody has made any allegations, yet, and Ladra has not received the text messages.

Fire-rescue responded to the scene to treat injuries — Diaz de la Portilla reportedly hurt his knee and Paul-Noel his head — but nobody was transported to the hospital.

There were also 181 photographs taken by the crime scene techs. Most are probably of the damage to the vehicles. We only know that from the crash report because Ladra has not been able to get any photographs. More documents have been requested.

But the crash report does say that the 2019 Ford Expedition driven by Paul-Noel was a rented SUV. It belongs to Royal Rent A Car Systems of Florida, a company owned by Ismael Perera at 3650 NW S River Drive, in Diaz de la Portilla’s district.

Perera has been in the news before. He is a politically-connected vendor with contracts both at the city and Miami-Dade county who was investigated by the FBI after an accusation that former Commissioner Victor de Yurre helped get the contract in exchange for free car service during his campaign.

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Ladra wonders what ADLP has been getting around in since. As usual, he did not want to answer questions. In a text, Ladra asked why Diaz de la Portilla chose not to provide any ID or information to the police.

“Never happened… only in your head or ‘coco‘ as the ‘malas lenguas‘ say… all made up,” he texted back, which obviously shows he is a loyal reader of Political Cortadito. And he doesn’t know what las malas lenguas are.

The text is clear on the document. He “refused” to provide information.

“When a journalist calls… I will gladly respond,” Diaz de la Portilla added, because tyrants always think they can decide who is a journalist and who is not. We are not in Cuba, Commissioner.

He also threatened to call the police on Ladra and get a temporary restraining order. You know, because he has the chief on speed dial.

Florida Crash Report for Jan. 5, 2022 accident with Miami city car and Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portill… by Political Cortadito on Scribd

Alex Diaz de la Portilla

Miami commissioner’s car crash report shows he gave no ID; his driver at fault added by Ladra on April 3, 2022
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