Some Florida lawmakers claim SB 168, which forces towns to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is pro-law-enforcement. But today, one of the state’s most prominent cops, City of Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina, sharply criticized portions of the measure. Colina said if he were asked to check a crime…
At his sentencing for the 1983 murder of a West Palm Beach college student, Ronald Henry Stewart said he was pleading no contest because it was in his best interest. His attorney pointed out a slew of flaws in the case — a potentially faulty eyewitnesses, the use of jailhouse snitches, and fingerprint evidence that didn’t match Stewart’s prints. But Stewart had previously been convicted of multiple rapes, and he feared being executed if a jury convicted him of killing 20-year-old Regina Harrison.
Two American citizens who live in South Florida— Miamian Garland Creedle and Keys resident Peter Sean Brown — sued Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties after being wrongly held in jail and nearly deported thanks to mistaken paperwork from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Frighteningly, those two people are not alone. According…
When Miami-Dade Police violently dragged Dyma Loving to the ground and arrested her earlier this month, she was standing on the sidewalk telling officers that a man had pulled a gun on her. According to County Commissioner Joe Martinez, though, the 26-year-old black woman “was not being compliant,”…
Tension between South Beach spring breakers and older, whiter, richer, and stodgier residents has been leading up to this for years. But yesterday’s revelation was still shocking. Miami Beach officials announced that for the remainder of spring break, teams of police in riot gear will patrol Ocean Drive and the…
The jailhouse surveillance video clearly shows the deputy violently wrenching inmate Audra West up out of a chair, throwing her around the room, and dragging her into a strip-search room. Other female deputies then run into the room with the door shutting behind them. West says that inside the room,…
In December, 38-year-old Mabel Perez-Ordonez received good news. A letter from Miami-Dade Police stated she’d been the victim of indecent exposure. That meant the Nicaraguan native would be eligible for a U visa — a path to legal status for undocumented crime victims who cooperate with cops. The Hialeah mother…
The City of Miami currently operates a Civilian Investigative Panel, a group of everyday citizens who investigate complaints against Miami Police Department officers. The panel provides basic levels of accountability for the department, which has been regularly accused of committing civil-rights violations for decades. Naturally, the city’s police union has fought…
A Florida jury today acquitted North Miami SWAT Officer Jonathan Aledda on one count of culpable negligence after he shot a behavioral therapist, Charles Kinsey, in the leg in 2016. Kinsey was trying to help an unarmed man with autism, Arnaldo Rios Soto, out of an intersection. Rios Soto was holding a silver toy truck…
Former Miami Police union chief Capt. Javier Ortiz has an uncanny knack for worming his way out of trouble. During his 14 years with MPD, Ortiz has been hit with 38 citizen complaints — but only six have been sustained by Internal Affairs. He’s proud of this and has openly bragged about his IA file on Facebook.
For months, one of the most explosive court cases in the world has been playing out in Miami’s federal courthouse. Aleksej Gubarev, a tech entrepreneur from Cyprus, sued BuzzFeed News for defamation after the news outlet published the infamous “Steele Dossier” outlining alleged Russian government efforts to sway the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump…
Tasers have been promoted to police departments in recent years as a safe way to de-escalate dangerous situations. Yet in reality, the devices are far from nonlethal — a 2017 Reuters investigation turned up 1,081 cases in which someone died after being shocked. Miami’s three largest police departments have also routinely misused Tasers: In 2014, New Times reported that local cops were tasing mentally ill people, the homeless, and children as young as 6.
On Tuesday, Miami developer Robert Zangrillo was charged with crimes as part of a sprawling, national FBI investigation into rich Americans who bribe colleges into admitting their spoiled, less-than-intelligent kids. Zangrillo allegedly paid an intermediary to make it look as if his daughter, who’d failed an art history class among…
A disturbing video shared on social media last night shows several Miami-Dade Police officers violently arresting a black woman who had called for help after someone pulled a gun on her and her daughter. Juan Perez, a spokesperson for the department, said on Twitter that the officer involved has been relieved of duty and the incident is being investigated.
In the wake of the FBI’s Operation Varsity Blues, one of the most sweeping probes into college-entrance bribery and corruption in American history, U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala today called for an investigation into nationwide corruption at top-flight schools.
Robert Zangrillo, a prominent Miami investor and real-estate developer, was charged today as part of a sweeping national college bribery case that has ensnared major college coaches and at least two Hollywood actresses. Prosecutors today alleged Zangrillo illegally paid what amounted to a $50,000 bribe to get his daughter into…
In March 2017, Massage Envy therapist David Egusquiza was arrested after a woman told police he had sexually assaulted her during a massage at the company’s Coral Gables location. But four months earlier, management at the spa had ignored another woman’s report of being assaulted by the same masseur, a new…
Irish mixed martial arts megastar Conor McGregor was arrested in Miami Beach today for allegedly smashing someone’s phone at the Fontainebleau resort. According to arrest documents obtained by New Times, he is being charged with two felony counts of strong-arm robbery and criminal mischief.
Last fall, retired Miami Police Sgt. Nestor Garcia dropped by the department’s Internal Affairs office to read up on a case filed against Capt. Javier Ortiz, the former police union leader known for exploits like harassing a citizen online, calling Tamir Rice a “thug,” and bragging about his lengthy IA…
In the past year, Donald Trump’s golf resort in Doral has lost a whopping $26 million in value. Hotel executives have blamed the president’s politics: Liberal Northeasterners would rather vacation elsewhere, and organizers for NASCAR and PGA Tour events simply don’t want the bad PR.
Nouma Raja, the former Palm Beach Gardens cop who killed local drummer Corey Jones in October 2015 as Jones was waiting to get his car towed off the highway, was found guilty this morning of manslaughter and attempted first-degree murder in a South Florida courtroom…
Conditions at Miami’s major Immigration and Customs Enforcement office — just north of the Miami-Dade County line in Miramar, Florida — continue to seem dire. Immigrant-rights groups have complained about conditions at the Miramar office for years. Since Trump took office, crowds have swelled and immigrants say they’re often…
