JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Friday, November 27, 2009

BLACK FRIDAY

SCOTT ROTHSTEIN UPDATE: Inside the Belly of the beast : An 18 Year Old Intern's Story on Working for Scott Rothstein at RRA. Meeting the Governor for a chat; Lunch at Capital Grille; tooling around in a Bentley Convertible. All in a days work.


Good Morning. It was 56 degrees at sunrise in Miami this morning. ( It's not yet sunrise here in Truckee, and it's 43 degrees. The high will be about 39.)

Enjoy your shopping.

OFFICE MITAT (MIAMI BEACH) ON DESK DUTY PENDING INVESTIGATION.

This was forwarded to the FACDL listserv and is based on a CBS 4 investigation. It's weird to say the least, and tragic:

A 2006 Mercedes took the southbound ramp of the Turnpike at Bird Road and was seen on camera weaving out of its lane before crashing into the toll plaza. The driver, 29-year-old Leingke Perez, was a bartender at Mango's Cafe on South Beach. She was airlifted to the hospital but died.

On the surface, this could be seen as just another tragic traffic accident, but it's what happened after the crash that has drawn the attention of the Florida Highway Patrol.

Surveillance cameras at the toll plaza caught the accident. Seconds after Perez's Mercedes is seen crashing, a Miami-Beach police cruiser appears on camera on the state security video pulling into the parking lot. The driver, apparently Officer Osvaldo Mitat of the Miami Beach Police Department, was seen running towards the crash.

Twenty seconds later, Officer Mitat is seen on camera, appearing to be tossing bottles from the car. He does not appear to be rendering aid to the victim of the accident or calling 911 to ask for help. From the camera's perspective, investigators determined Mitat tossed the bottles toward a retention pond.

The next day, Mitat came back to the scene apparently to retrieve the bottles. He was met by FHP investigators who told him they had collected the bottles as evidence.

Why was officer Mitat so interested in clearing Leingke Perez's car of bottles? It's unclear right now. But we have learned he not only worked off-duty detail at Mangos but that he was dating bartender Leingke Perez....

Sources say the couple lived with each other, and the officer was separated from his wife but is still married.

"I don't know of his life or nothing; I just know he's a great guy, and they used to love each other very much so," said Crosby.

CBS4 visited Perez's home Wednesday and found officer Mitat's patrol car in her driveway. He did not answer the door.

Miami Beach police are not saying much about what happened except for a brief statement, "The department is shadowing the investigation being conducted by the Florida Highway Patrol...."

Late Wednesday afternoon Detective Juan Sanchez of the Miami Beach Police department told
CBS4's David Sutta they hadn't taken action because they were waiting for FHP to finish their investigation. However, by Wednesday night, Officer Mitat had been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Florida Highway Patrol would not comment on its investigation. They are awaiting reports to determine whether Leingke Perez was intoxicated when the crash happened. Officer Mitat remains on duty while the investigation continues.


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's my guess: Sadly, ms perez was probably drinking at work. Ofcr Milat was probably getting hammered with free drinks. ( was he one of the beach cops caught on video phone drinking on duty at a sobe cafe last year?)

Tragically, Ms Perez gets into an accident. Being the good beach cop he is, Milat tries to destroy evidence. (he learned that one from his 40 hour class on planting and hiding evidence, depending on the victim or defendant).

Thankfully, the cop was caught. And being the genius he is, he sobers up and returns to the scene to "collect" evidence.

And of course this dirty cop is still pulling a check from the taxpayers. Maybe he should man up and donate his pay subsequent to his crime to MADD or some other worthy organization

Anonymous said...

Huh. She was dead....what crime would he be covering up?

Anonymous said...

He is a beach officer. Meaning he is highly ethical. The camera doesn't show everything. Why render aid if the driver passed? He was simply getting the liquor bottles with his prints out of her car ( and likely taking her tip money for the night).

Miami Beach Police - to serve, protect, lie, cheat and steal. A long proud tradition.

Anonymous said...

Who has more pull...? Brian Tannenbaum in Miami or Rothstein six months ago in Lauderdale?

Anonymous said...

I don't think an officer should let his gf drive drunk ( assuming the poor girl was drinking). And let us not forget the tragic loss of life.

Anonymous said...

Clearly Rothstein had more pull. Tannebaum seems to me to just be an honest decent attorney. Nothing about him seems flashy or faked and he certainly doesn't show up to political events with 100K checks just to get a photo. I have worked with Tannebaum and I can say his word is golden and he is a man of honor.

Anonymous said...

He smart guys, on DUI cases when there is a video, the police love to say that it only shows two demensions.

How many demensions does it take to catch a bad cop?

Anonymous said...

Fuck that guy...he probably is busy forging a will for her now. The travesty is that ye has not already been arrested.

Anonymous said...

Let's get back to talking about up and coming ASAs and PDs? I'm tired about hearing about the past and want someone to stroke my ego!

Anonymous said...

former asa here out of the building for a few years are there any really hot young asa or apd's?

Anonymous said...

YES! Judge Ortiz has a blonde ambition PD tour with two blonde hotties, who kick ass in court to boot.