Four Hollywood cops in hot water.....

[tzbv2p]

Dashcam catches Fla. cops attempting to frame motorist

A cop's dashboard camera is supposed to catch criminals in the act. For four Hollywood, Florida cops, the dash cam may have foiled their plans to frame a motorist.

The four police officers -- three of them longtime veterans of the force -- were caught on one of the cop's dash cameras plotting to place the blame for a February traffic accident on a woman one of them had hit with their patrol car.

The disturbing video shows the woman, Alexandra Torres Villa, handcuffed in the back of the squad car as the officers get their stories straight on what they are going to say happened.

Officer Joel Francisco, 36, an 11-year veteran, crashed into the back of Villa's vehicle at a light on February 17 at midnight.

The cop radioed to other officers who converged on the scene and hatched a way to bail Francisco out.

Officer Dewey Pressley, 42, arrives and questions Villa, who tells him that she has been drinking.

The 21-year veteran officer seizes the opportunity and arrests her for DUI. But the plot thickens from there.

The cops begin to brainstorm believable excuses for the accident.

"As far as I'm concerned. I'm going to put words in his mouth. She went to accelerate and a cat jumped out of the window at which point he thought it could have been a pedestrian, which distracted him," Pressley tells Sgt. Andrew Diaz, another veteran of the force. "I mean what's the chances of hitting a f---in drunk when a cat jumps out of the window?"

Still, the cops run with the half-baked idea and rush to get Villa to do a Breathalyzer test so they can officially say she was drunk.

"I nailed her on the video. I already hung her on video. She said she has been doing a beer party," Pressley says. "She's gonna blow."

Then, another cop debates with Pressley on who is going to write up the fabricated report to clear their police comrade.

"I know how I'm going to word this with the cat so we can get him off the hook. I'll write the narrative," Pressley says. "We're going to bend this a little bit."

Civilian Community Service Officer Karim Thomas joins the three senior officers and the four cops go so far as to change the angle of pictures of the accident to make it look like Villa swerved in front of the cop car and caused the accident, not Francisco.

Throughout the tape, the cops acknowledged what they are doing is illegal, but when you are the law, there is nothing wrong with bending it for a fellow cop, one says.

"I don't lie and make things up ever because it's wrong, but if I need to bend it a little bit to protect a cop, I'll do it," Pressley tells Francisco after reassuring him no one will ever find out. "She's freaking hammered anyway."

The cops even do a final rehearsal before Villa is taken to the city lock up.

"We'll take care of it," one officer says. The others reply: "We're good."

The police officers are currently on administrative leave pending a state attorney's office investigation.

Villa, who was charged with four counts of DUI and cited for improper lane change, is still fighting the charges in court.

http://www.kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=10812683

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WTF were these guys thinking! If this really went down the way they are accused, I hope they burn. The police force has no use for them!

[Taylor1430]

Wow....Unbelievable

[Bigtexan44]

Idiots.........

[Redstart]

Two years ago 4 Hollywood police officers were caught in an undercover sting. The officers supposedly agreed to "front" for a person or persons they thought were in the mafia.

I know the Hollywood police department is pretty big, so 8 supposedly dirty cops in the same department in 2 years time does not mean there is a widespread problem.

But it isn't pretty. I heard morale was a little low in the department after the 2007 sting. This isn't going to help.

[Red Swan]

morons.. everyone of them should get charged criminally

[Southflaguy]

This is one of the best depts in S Florida, it's one of the toughest to get into...It's extremely frustrating watching this type of stuff, morons that give the dept a black eye...WTF were they thinking...:mad:

Hollywood PD is a good PD, don't let these idiots represent the whole dept...A lot of good people work there!...


I don't understand how they can just throw away their careers like that...:rolleyes:

[813Deputy2b]

On of the agencies I am applying to. If I am hired I pray that one day after x amount of years I can help turn that place around. But I will not hold my breathe. Wow, just astonishing they would do this.

813

[Bigtexan44]

And you're suprised???? Stuff like this happens every day in this country.....cops doing shady ****.

Just like ACCOUNTANTS, doctors, lawyers, grocery store employees, receptionists, judges, politicians, etc. Do you have a username on other kinds of forums talking trash to them as well?

[Taylor13]

And you're suprised???? Stuff like this happens every day in this country.....cops doing shady ****.

You are an accountant, you know jack****, please leave.

[KJB]

You are an accountant, you know jack****, please leave.

Hey now, there has NEVER been a crooked accountant, ever.:rolleyes:

[Taylor13]

There's even one in my game!

[SCV-Sop]

I love this stuff. I really do. However, there is a level of hypocrisy among those in non LEO professions regarding LEO’s ethical behavior based on profession.

They get a disproportionate amount of coverage because their profession assumes upstanding qualities are required. However, it wasn’t the LEO profession that brought the economy to its knees.

So what we’re looking at here are individuals acting unethical and illegally relative to their knowledge of their specific profession. Which profession does this not occur?

What I would really, really love to see is of those incarcerated, what is the per capita ratio of those in jail for abusing their position of power relative to their profession.

That would be interesting.

Hmm, maybe that would be my thesis if I ever decided to get an MS in Admin of Justice.

[So Fla Cop]

The media portrayal is, as usual, not accurate, BUT, their own words will do them in. It doesn't matter if "bending" was not the right choice of words (and I don't mean lying) since the prosecutor has dropped the charges. Hollywood is a good job with good cops.

[Gulf Po Po]

However, it wasn’t the LEO profession that brought the economy to its knees.

You are GodD@mned right. Pencil pushing thieves.

[JTShooter]

This will just make it more difficult (in an already difficult process) to get hired with HPD...

[Red Swan]

heres the video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh8lLjtFU9c

[Bigtexan44]

It's funny, the Troll spews off his ignorant comments and then doesn't respond. go figure :rolleyes:

[Fëanor]

As far as I'm concerned. I'm going to put words in his mouth. She went to accelerate and a cat jumped out of the window at which point he thought it could have been a pedestrian, which distracted him...Good thing Pressley had his buddies there to help fill in the blanks and add in the "improper lane change". Unless I have a gross misunderstanding of traffic laws, you are expected to be able to slam on your brakes and stop without rear-ending the vehicle in front of you, regardless of how suddenly they stopped.

It's funny, the Troll spews off his ignorant comments and then doesn't respond. go figureWhy are you looking for a fight? His post has been deleted.

You are an accountant, you know jack****, please leave.Hopefully you can re-read your statement and understand how immature and unnecessary it was.

He is right, corruption happens every day. But it happens everywhere, not only amongst LEO's.

[Spoken]

.........................

[Bigtexan44]

Good thing Pressley had his buddies there to help fill in the blanks and add in the "improper lane change". Unless I have a gross misunderstanding of traffic laws, you are expected to be able to slam on your brakes and stop without rear-ending the vehicle in front of you, regardless of how suddenly they stopped.

Why are you looking for a fight? His post has been deleted.

Hopefully you can re-read your statement and understand how immature and unnecessary it was.

He is right, corruption happens every day. But it happens everywhere, not only amongst LEO's.

And? Because people like to spew off their ignorant comments and then run away. Had he said, "Are you suprised? Stuff like this happens everyday in this country. Accountants, cops, doctors, lawyers, etc all doing shady crap." It might have been a little better. No, he has to generalize all of law enforcement with the mistakes of a few.

Why are you trying to defend some d-bag bashing police?

[Taylor13]

Good thing Pressley had his buddies there to help fill in the blanks and add in the "improper lane change". Unless I have a gross misunderstanding of traffic laws, you are expected to be able to slam on your brakes and stop without rear-ending the vehicle in front of you, regardless of how suddenly they stopped.

Why are you looking for a fight? His post has been deleted.

Hopefully you can re-read your statement and understand how immature and unnecessary it was.

He is right, corruption happens every day. But it happens everywhere, not only amongst LEO's.

Sure... his post was deleted.. it doesn't matter, he still said it, but we should probably drop it.

I didn't mean that as a jab to accountants (as I see you are one too, and my parents have a really nice guy thats an accountant) but really his comment was out of line, and you didn't say anything about that.


I listened to the video. The officer thought for about a millisecond about saying that. He knew what he said and I wont by all means be defending him.

[ISPY4U2]

Faenor is also an accountant.

Accountants stick together, man. Just like cops, only it's the thin BOTTOM line.

Seriously, if she was drunk, why can't they punish her AND the falsifying cops? Or was that a plea deal of some sort?

[GGG]

Seriously, if she was drunk, why can't they punish her AND the falsifying cops? Or was that a plea deal of some sort?

Which lying cop did you want to testify for the prosecution? Going to trial on her would be a waste of money. Everything they say about her being drunk would be tossed.

[damode1985]

Speaking of which, how might this affect people who have been arrested by them in the past?

They would have grounds to maybe appeal their case/conviction if they got a really good attorney and/or can articulate how the officer that arrested them falsified evidence/statements.

[Fëanor]

Seriously, if she was drunk, why can't they punish her AND the falsifying cops? Or was that a plea deal of some sort?She said she was drinking, but the article didn't mention breathalyzer results as far as I saw.

I didn't intend to defend his statement, I just wanted to post a reminder that there are other ways to handle an out-of-line post without antagonizing the poster and soliciting further responses which will probably be worst than the first.

I've got no need to defend accountants; I would sell them out in a second for enough money :D

[willbird]

Accountants stick together, man. Just like cops, only it's the thin BOTTOM line.

Seriously, if she was drunk, why can't they punish her AND the falsifying cops? Or was that a plea deal of some sort?

I would say because anybody who was there who could testify was busy committing a felony at the time. If it is not a felony to write a false report and swear to it then it SHOULD be.

Could you imagine the circus the jury trail would be that any good lawyer would insist on ?? But the lying cops could plead the fifth I guess on many questions that would be asked on cross examination ??

I am so very glad to see that to a person all the Officers here are outraged to the point of disbelief at the actions ON CAMERA with audio of these morons.

Bill

[eyildiz]

That's sad.... 3 cops, 1 CSO's live's ruined, no other dept will ever hire them, better start looking for a new carrier.

I heard McD is hiring

[Monty Ealerman]

Accountants stick together, man. Just like cops, only it's the thin BOTTOM line. ... (Echoing Code Seven): :D

Seriously, if she was drunk, why can't they punish her AND the falsifying cops? Or was that a plea deal of some sort?Apparently she's still defending on the DUI. I think she probably really was DUI. Even so, there's a legal principle, falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, that says that if you are shown to be lying about something, you may be presumed to be lying about anything and everything else, so once it is shown that a witness is lying about something, whatever else the witness says is not to be given full credence.

[TX_Loudmouth]

http://living.aol.com/morning-rush/crooked-cops-today/31186624001?icid=main|main|dl4|link3|http%3A%2F%2F living.aol.com%2Fmorning-rush%2Fcrooked-cops-today%2F31186624001

They didn't even bother to read the article. They list the video as "LA cops...". It's Hollywood, FL not Hollywood, CA

[mdrdep]

I would sell them out in a second for enough money :D


I didn't know you were going for your law degree too :D

[MRRBEST]

Pathetic and rediculous. Sucks for the good ones out there, such a black eye for the good ones and the agency...

[tzbv2p]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hollywood/sfl-hollywood-police-080509,0,7436906.story

By Alexia Campbell South Florida Sun Sentinel


The Hollywood police officer whose rear-end wreck was allegedly covered up by fellow officers is no stranger to road accidents. His personnel file, obtained by the Sun Sentinel, shows he was involved in eight other crashes while driving his patrol car.

Joel Francisco, 36, an 11-year veteran of the force, was ordered to attend Driving Training School three times. Early in his career, he was suspended for being in three crashes within a year's time that were deemed preventable, the file says. At one point, he was not allowed to take his patrol car home for a month.

According to other Hollywood police documents, a sergeant who is accused of helping doctor the report on Francisco's latest accident was cited this May for misinforming superiors about a road crash.

Francisco, Sgt. Andrew Diaz, Officer Dewey Pressley, a community service aide and a crime-scene technician have been suspended with pay since a video surfaced last week showing Hollywood officers talking about doctoring their report to shift blame for the Feb. 17 crash from Francisco to the woman whose car he rear-ended.

The video had been recorded by a dashboard camera in one of the officer's cars.

Alexandra Torrens-Vilas, the 23-year-old woman whose Toyota Tercel was hit, was originally charged with four separate criminal counts of DUI -- one count of DUI, one count of DUI property damage and two counts of DUI blood alcohol above 0.20. If convicted on all charges, she could have faced up to three years in prison, her attorney said.

The Broward State Attorney's Office dropped the prosecution after the video became public.

Francisco could not be reached on his work telephone, and a recording on his voice mailbox said it was full and could accept no more messages. It was not known if he had retained a lawyer. Like the other four Hollywood police employees, he is the subject of an internal investigation ordered by Chief Chad Wagner, and could ultimately lose his job or face criminal charges.

Francisco's file includes reports on his involvement in eight earlier crashes that his supervisors said he could have avoided.

The first one occurred in June 1999, when Francisco backed into a cement-filled metal pole in a parking lot on South Park Road. About a month later, he hit a car from behind as it made a left turn into a parking lot on South 22nd Avenue, a report said. Both of the accidents could have been avoided, his supervisors said, and he was sent to driving school.

In January 2000, Francisco struck another car as he made a U-turn on Sheridan Street to chase a suspected felon. It was his third preventable accident in a year, and he was suspended for two days without pay.

The next write-up came in January 2002, for a minor crash in the 3100 block of Hollywood Boulevard. Francisco was written up for failing to prevent the incident, the report said. Francisco's supervisor told him to pay closer attention to traffic flow and to operate his police car safely.

About two months later, Francisco wrecked his patrol car during a chase on South Park Road. He was ordered to attend driving school for the second time. In September 2002, Francisco was prohibited from taking his police car home for a month, after his third wreck in a two-year period. The officer had backed into a pay phone after responding to an alarm on North 60th Avenue.

The next accident happened in September 2007. Francisco's supervisors said he did not do everything possible to prevent the crash and had him review the department's operations manual. Following an accident Jan. 21, 2009, that was also judged preventable, he was ordered to attend his third driving school class.

Police are disciplined based on the number of preventable accidents they are involved in within a two-year period, city spokeswoman Raelin Storey said.

In May, a supervisor accused Diaz of negligence, incompetence and violating procedures when he responded to an accident involving a fellow police officer in a patrol car, according to a report in his file.

At the scene, Diaz, 39, didn't tell the on-duty shift lieutenant over the phone that the police car was totaled or that the officer involved was not in uniform, preventing a more in-depth investigation, the report said.

Diaz's handling of the accident played a role in that officer's decision to resign. The officer, new to the department, was still on probation.

Diaz, who has worked with the department for 16 years, was required to get remedial training.

Diaz could not be reached to comment. The number listed at his address was not in service.

Pressley, 42, wrote the report detailing the February midnight crash in the 2800 block of Sheridan Street. His file shows the department reprimanded him for a car accident in 2003 that was ruled preventable.

[katseiye]

I would say because anybody who was there who could testify was busy committing a felony at the time. If it is not a felony to write a false report and swear to it then it SHOULD be.

Could you imagine the circus the jury trail would be that any good lawyer would insist on ?? But the lying cops could plead the fifth I guess on many questions that would be asked on cross examination ??

I am so very glad to see that to a person all the Officers here are outraged to the point of disbelief at the actions ON CAMERA with audio of these morons.

Bill

Willbird, I think the outrage would still be there. There are a lot of honest, hardworking men and women in law enforcement that do their jobs day in and day out w/ little or no appreciation or recognition. A few rotten apples spoil the whole barrel and the rest are left trying to make up the lost ground and maintain.

The media chooses to center on the four officers involved. It's now only a matter of time before administration has the spotlight turned on them for failing to change policy regarding accidents/incidents and disciplinary procedures. Eight accidents in 11 years, all preventable ?

What the officers did was wrong and it will be dealt with I'm sure, both internally and criminally. It took 5 months to surface for something that should have been sniffed out w/in days or weeks. DUI arrests usually have the audio/video submitted as evidence. An accident review board with their stuff together should have reviewed the audio/video of all the officers on the scene as well as reports and supplements. Where was the administrative and supervisory oversight that should have brought a swift end to the charade ? Rank and file are not the only problems here.

If administrations would accept responsibility for their job functions and learn to deal with internal issues instead of looking for ways to mitigate their own lack of skills or ability to progress, these types of incidents would not be so common.

I fear this unfortunate event will be more far reaching than what is currently being reported. The good men and women of LE will continue to press on regardless. JMOHO

[E3CSHARP]

Wow, that is a lot of "scoop". That officer really make other honorable officers look bad.

[just joe]

Another post where I have to say, wow!