Six week
s after being returned to office post his acquittal on federal bribery charges, Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi crashed into a tree Monday night and left the scene of the accident.
But worse than that, he may have abused his power to get out of a citation — and who knows what else? Maybe even a DUI, which is, of course, what everybody’s thinking.
Miami Lakes Police were called for a “hit and run” at 8:23 p.m., according to the accident report. An officer arrived at the scene on at the corner of Northwest 82nd Avenue and 140th Street about 8:36 p.m. to find some blood on the seat and on the airbag that deployed inside the black 2014 Kia.
But no driver.
Read related story: Wayne Slaton gives up; Michael Pizzi is Miami Lakes mayor
They called traffic homicide detectives and started looking for an injured driver.
About 35 minutes later, police said, Pizzi came back to the scene. He was wearing a baseball cap but had a cut on his forehead. Ladra can’t help but wonder if he got the cap to hide bigger injuries.
“Due to the injuries the driver sustained it was evident that a seat belt was not used,” the report said.
Miami-Dade Police Lt. John Jenkins said Pizzi was the only person in the car. But how does he know that? How do we know there wasn’t someone else in the car who just didn’t return with Pizzi?
Like maybe his drug dealer? Or a lobbyist with a new scheme?
Pizzi told police he veered his car into the tree Monday to avoid an animal that had run onto the road. Not a dog. Not a cat. Not a possum. An “animal.”
How do we know? He was not available for comment Tuesday and did not return phone calls or emails.
It’s not like Pizzi is a pillar of honesty. This is a guy who says he didn’t know the $3,000 cash given to him in an envelope in the darkness of his office closet was a bribe.
Jenkins also said that Pizzi was cooperative and that there was no conduct roadside sobriety tests “because he did not exhibit any signs of impairment.”
How is that possible? Pizzi always exhibits signs of impairment! Just go to a council meeting.
How do we know he just doesn’t hold his liquor well? How do we know he wasn’t high on something else (which is what everybody’s thinking)? How do we know he didn’t leave the scene of the accident so he could stash his stash at home?
Read related story: If you thought the old Michael Pizzi was bad… cuidado!
Okay, it’s all speculative. But how do we know? I mean, people do not leave the scene of an accident unless th
ere’s a reason.
Police told Ladra that he said he went to all a tow truck driver. Guess his cellphone was dead. And guess there were no other cars passing by. But half an hour?
Ladra bets you and I can’t get away with this. We would get a breathalizer on the spot or would be made to walk the line. And if we came back casually to the car left in a heap on the side of the road a half hour later, we would get slapped with a ticket for leaving the scene of the accident. It’s a misdemeanor because there were no injuries. But the laws don’t apply to Pizzi.
Pizzi didn’t even get a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, probably because it wasn’t witnessed by any officer and was just a supposition of the investigator. Can police determine or suppose whether or not he was speeding at the time?
They can. But they won’t. This is how discretion works, people. Pizzi is a sitting mayor. The only other injury was a tree. There was no other car involved. The officer on the scene probably just didn’t want to get a call from the Miami Lakes major, who would get a call from the town manager, who would get a call from Pizzi.
Or maybe those calls happened. Because the scene wasn’t cleared until just after 2 a.m. — almost six hours later.
Ladra is anxiously waiting the supplemental reports.
Laws just don’t apply to Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
[…] Read related story: Laws just don’t apply to Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi […]
Damaging an Unattended Vehicle or Property (Florida Statue 316.063)
A driver who hits unattended property has the duty to make an effort to locate the owner of the damaged property. If the owner cannot be found, the driver should visibly leave a note indicating his name, address and registration information. Furthermore, the driver is also required by law to contact law enforcement and notify them of the accident. Failure to comply with this statute results in a misdemeanor of the second degree. This violation can carry up to 60 days imprisonment and up to a $500 fine. Read Florida Stat. 316.063.
Every crooked politician knows that government issued cell phones and emails are subject to the “Public records request game”. Most of them have a personal cell phone and even an email server or personal account.
Pizzi is not that smart, watch.
I was driving that same stretch of road Monday night and I saw what appeared to be a large skunk stumbling away from the scene of that accident. As I got closer I realized the skunk was Michael Pizzi and since being drunk and stumbling is his normall behavior, I just drove past him and went home.
LMAO!!! This made my day!!!
Guys don’t worry, the truth will come out. This just has to be done smartly. Yes Mayor Pizzi’s phone records will tell the tale that he spun. There will be bar receipts from the establishment he visited prior to him valiantly missing the dark animal who darted in front of him. There will be a third party 911 call that describes him as running from the scene. There may even be video or two out there. We just need an uninterested third party, law enforcement, to investigate this. Then we may see Mayor Pizzi re arrested as well as a few political and law enforcement types. You see, forget a sitting Mayor getting arrested for leaving the scene of an injury accident. It’s the cops, and fellow politicians, that covered up for him that need to be exposed and arrested.
Police can’t just draw blood anytime they want. Specific criteria must be met and I have not seen anything in the news that meets that criteria. No signs of impairment no other persons injured etc. Hit and run alone does not have anything to do with DUI blood draws. Although everything looks suspicious and Pizzi’s explanations ludicrous it looks as though he has been treated the same as any other citizen.
I would think a gash to the head would be considered serious bodily injury. Also fleeing from the scene of the accident is nothing but a cover up to hide his use of alcohol or drugs. Probable cause was established when Pizzi left from the accident scene and returned 90 minutes later. Now if you want to play devil’s advocate and create another loophole for this degenerate mayor to slither by go ahead, but please read up the specifics of state law before you provide Pizzi with another senseless alibi. If the cops on the scene would have done their job, Pizzi would not have gotten away with it. I sincerely doubt you or I would have received that same courtesy.
“Florida Statute 316.1933, provides the relevant law for purposes of determining the blood tests for impairment and intoxication in cases of death or serious bodily injury, and it provides in pertinent part, as follows:
“(1)(a) If a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that a motor vehicle driven by or in the actual physical control of a person under the influence of alcoholic beverages, any chemical substances, or any controlled substances has caused death or serious bodily injury of a human being, a law enforcement officer shall require the person driving or in actual physical control of the motor vehicle to submit to a test of the person’s blood…”
You’re half there. You didn’t quote the definition of serious bodily injury. Which is something along the lines of (from memory ) ” that injury which is likely to cause death, dismemberment or loss of limb or the protracted loss of use of any limb or organ.” A gash to the head that allows him to walk around does not qualify. Not to mention some recent Supreme Court rulings that recently raised those standards.
Thank you former Town of Miami Lakes Manager Frank Bocanegra and/or MDPD Northwest District Major Iggy Alvarez for providing us with that interesting piece of misinformation. Now tell us, which one of you attorneys (who studied on the MDPD dime while neglecting your duties) received the first call from Pizzi Monday night after the crash? Which one of you two corrupted souls guided Pizzi to lie about his previous whereabouts and maybe even instructed the cops at the scene not to arrest this vandal? It is widely known in the MDPD that Northwest District is the hotbed of police corruption in MDPD. It is quite shameful that a private investigator has to go pull public records to prove the types of crimes that our tax paid police department neglects to investigate. One fine day that little house of cards you rotten apples have built in a once decent police district will come crumbling down on you.
I don’t know why I bother posting. You’re all going to believe what you want. I don’t know or care about Mr Pizzi or anyone else in Miami Lakes. I do know how these investigations are conducted and I hoped to offer some insight. I never saw anyone so determined to crucify someone who crashed into a tree, that they would demand every police resource available to do it. Jesus Christ, they called the traffic homicide detectives (can you say overkill?) out but that’s not good enough to get you of the police department’s back, you’re still going to call them corrupt!
The truth is that even if Pizzi WAS drunk (maybe he was but I’m naive enough to believe the police when they say there were no signs) that is NOT ENOUGH TO DRAW BLOOD. If there were signs, they could have requested a breathalizer test which he could have refused at risk of loosing his license.
The truth is that misdemeanor charges are NOT ENOUGH TO GET A WARRANT FOR CELLPHONE RECORDS, so that’s a pipe dream.
You could put a hundred man hours into this investigation and find out that he lied about an animal forcing him off the road and he lost control cause he was driving crazy. I don’t consider that a worthwhile use of resources for an average citizen so I don’t think it would be fair to do that to a politician. If Pizzi is as bad as you all make him out to be, you’ll probably get another, better, shot at him.
You do not need a “warrant” to obtain telephone records for any public official. If I wanted to I could show up at Miami Lakes City Hall tomorrow to request those telephone records and the clerk would not be able to deny my request. A simple request under Florida State Statutes Chapter 119 would suffice. Surprisingly, those records would show every call made or received by Pizzi at that critical time.
The reason why people are upset at police behavior in this particular instance is because as a public official, be that an elected mayor, Pizzi’s conduct ought to be beyond reproach.
The fact that Pizzi got off on federal charges by having two lackeys lie through their teeth about what occurred at the pool hall with the bribe monies he accepted from federal agents has given the public an insight as to the type of individual we are dealing with here.
You must admit that Pizzi’s behavior in this incident is very erratic and not the type of response by a law abiding citizen. I do agree with you when you say that the citizens of Miami Lakes will get another shot at Pizzi. It’s in his nature to straddle the law and someday he will get his.
Knowing who he called after the crash is of no evidentiary value to the police. But with a warrant the police could probably retrace his cellphone to find out where he was and when, which IS of value but unavailable sine no felony occurred.
I totally disagree with the previous comment. Knowing who Pizzi called right after the accident is extremely important. At a time when Pizzi was probably inebriated and in a state of panic, he would have reached out to his contacts at the police department seeking guidance.
Those police officials that are indebted to Pizzi would have done anything in their power to prevent his arrest or exposure to the media. An internal police investigation would have led to sworn statements of those officers at the scene and would have disclosed the orders they received from superiors that ultimately resulted in Pizzi being let off lightly.
There are two issues involved here. One is letting Pizzi get away without even a traffic citation and the other is police officers being more than willing to accommodate the wishes of their higher ups who owe their jobs to the likes of Pizzi.
Who he called after a crash is not evidence of wrong doing, its just information that continues suspicions. Without elaborating on the many legal loopholes in cases like this (especially regarding the sworn statements you mistakenly think you can force from officers), I just want to say that none of things listed in these comments or news articles I’ve read are evidence admissible in court. Some of you watch too much TV. Wanting Pizzi to be guilty (and he may be) doesn’t mean that evidence admissible in court exists to prove it. I suppose that’s how he beat his corruption charges in the first place. The evidence in this case seems even weaker (almost non-existent) than in that case. That’s all I’m trying to say.
Good Lord, it’s the Miami Lakes version of Chappaquiddick!
Thank goodness the Mayor was travelling “alone,” and did not have a pregnant aide travelling with him at the time.
Sometimes the evidence just isn’t there. To paraphrase a great movie, it doesn’t matter what the police believe, it only matters what they can prove.
… and sometimes the evidence is so strong and the abuse of power so great that it slaps decent citizens on their face. As far as we know, fleeing the scene of a traffic accident with injuries (which he sustained) requires blood to be drawn, either willfully or by force. Why did the cops let him getaway without even a citation? Is it because of his contacts in the force? A regular citizen would probably have ended up arrested and with at least three citations. Very interesting what that blood work would have shown, being that Pizzi is drunk or under the effects of drugs 90% of the time. Quit making up excuses for this derelict. Hope in the next elections, Lakes citizens send this buffoon packing.
The first obvious mistake or neglect of duty by MDPD at this traffic scene is not drawing blood from Pizzi to determine if he was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Secondly, not citing Pizzi when obvious damage and evidence of the accident exists is inexcusable. Guaranteed his first telephone call was to MDPD Major Izzy Alvarez and his second to Frank Bocanegra to get him off the hook and cover up the accident.
Based on the past testimony on Pizzi’s bribery trial and his pool hall cigar/money exchange, former Town of Miami Lakes Councilman Jorge Lopez will soon appear in court as a witness on Pizzi’s behalf to claim HE released the “animal” that caused the accident. Another day in the land of Pizzi! Taking payments from federal agents, setting fire to his own law office, placing bumper stickers on opponent cars at city hall, you name it. Come to think of it, this schlapstic routine is quite appropriate for a Shemp look-a-like such as Pizzi.
Boys and Girls:
It is time to play the “Public records request game”
I wonder what phone calls you will see coming in and out from his city cell phone.
Ask for the city bill in its original format showing detailed call list. Oh by the way. Pam Bondi has made it CLEAR that this information will be given along with details of text messages (content) Call her and ask. I did.
No more hiding in the closet Mr. Politician. When you get a phone bill redacted you may ask for an “in camera inspection where you actually get to review the information also. How nice.. They have figured out ways to circumvent the law and creative people like Joel Chandler (public records master) have found away to return the power back to the people.
BTW… Miss ya girl Woof Woof!