Cop arrested after high-speed chase
NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: Miami Police Officer Fausto López, 35, was late to his second job as a school security guard, so he put the pedal to the metal. FL Highway Patrol Trooper D.J. Watts watched incredulously as he blew past her on the Turnpike, and started weaving through lanes of traffic at high speed. The lights and siren of his squad car were not turned on so she tried to pull him over, which triggered a seven-minute chase that reached 120 mph, The Miami Herald reports:
Watts caught up to López. When she pulled in back of López’s car, she once again activated her lights and siren, but López ignored the warnings, according to the report, and kept going.
Finally, at 6:35 a.m. … López stopped his car near Hollywood.
Her gun drawn, Watts ordered López to step out of the vehicle, slapped handcuffs on him and briefly detained him in the back of her patrol car, WFOR-TV (Channel 4, Miami) reports:
“It’s unusual for one officer to stop another, admittedly,” former Miami Police Chief Ken Harms told CBS4′s Natalia Zea. …
“Just because there’s an off duty police officer, en route to an off duty job doesn’t give him the right to violate Florida statutes. I think the highway patrol officer ought to be commended for her diligence in pursuing this matter,” said Harms.
Watts ticketed Lopez for reckless driving, a second-degree misdemeanor, and let him drive away.
López remains on regular duty pending the conclusion of the criminal investigation.
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