Police in Hollywood FL cover up investigation of cover-up

Dashcam video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrBSYUF5gkQ

Hollywood police scandal
Hollywood police chief: We're thoroughly investigating cover-up case
Public defenders and other attorneys are questioning the officers' credibility in current and past cases

By Sofia Santana

South Florida Sun Sentinel

7:13 PM EDT, July 31, 2009

HOLLYWOOD


Police Chief Chad Wagner asked for the public's patience Friday as his agency investigates four officers under suspicion of falsifying a crash report and said a crime scene technician is also being scrutinized for his role in the incident.

Wagner said he asked the Broward State Attorney's Office to aid in the investigation, but Broward Chief Public Defender Howard Finkelstein continued to call for an outside agency, such as the FBI, to take over.

Though the crash at the root of the controversy happened more than five months ago – a patrol officer rear-ended a woman's car – Wagner said he first learned of the alleged cover-up that it spawned only this week.

On Tuesday, he ordered the four officers and crime scene technician suspended with pay and launched an internal investigation.

"I realize and understand those that feel a sense of betrayal over this incident," Wagner told a news conference. "And I ask each and every one of you to allow this investigative process to run its course, and to have confidence that this matter will be investigated accurately and professionally."

Finkelstein, whose office is reviewing pending and past cases in which the officers and crime scene technician were involved, remained wary.

"One has to wonder, why did it take so long?" he said of the internal investigation. It was ordered only after a police dashboard camera video surfaced, in which one can hear police officers and the crime scene technician discussing how they will falsify their report to pin blame for the crash on a drunken driving suspect, instead of the officer who ran into her from behind.

Finkelstein said Friday that he was the one who leaked the video, because he felt the public, defense attorneys in particular, should know about the incident.

"I really do believe their intent was to keep it quiet," Finkelstein said of Hollywood police.

After its debut on a local legal affairs blog, the video swiftly appeared on South Florida news Web sites, TV stations and, ultimately, on national broadcasts including NBC-TV's Today Show.

The controversy, the latest in a long line of scandals to rock Hollywood's police force, has spurred public pressure for the officers to be fired or punished.

Wagner, however, said that by law, the officers must first undergo an internal investigation conducted by their peers.

The department's police union, the Broward Police Benevolent Association, hasn't gotten involved in the case, but the union's senior vice president, Jeff Marano, spoke Friday in defense of the Hollywood police personnel now under suspicion: Officers Joel Francisco and Dewey Pressley, Sgt. Andrew Diaz, Community Service Officer Karim Thomas and Crime Scene Technician Andrea Tomassi, who also was present at the crash scene.

Wagner's mention of Tomassi was the first indication that the actions of a fifth department employee were being investigated.

"I've known all these individuals a very long time. When the facts come to light, I'm sure all of them will be exonerated," said Marano, a retired Hollywood police lieutenant.

That, though, is the worry of Finkelstein and others familiar with the history of a police department that seems to contain more than its fair share of scandal and embarrassments.

The last major blow to the Hollywood department's credibility came in February 2007, when four officers were charged and later convicted of delivering heroin in an FBI sting operation. Federal authorities said at the time that they could have snared more corrupt Hollywood cops had department higher-ups not alerted colleagues to the investigation.

Retired FBI agent Jack Garcia was one of the undercover operatives and gave his account of the investigation in a book published last year. In an interview last October, he said of his dealings with the Hollywood Police Department: "What was amazing to me is that it was so easy to get cops to look the other way, to guard trucks for us, no questions asked. I'd never seen anything like it."