“We’ll do a little Walt Disney to protect the cop … “
A South Florida cop rear-ends a woman who was stopped at a green light in her red Toyota. The woman appears to be drunk. Police have enough to whisk her away to jail.
But there is still that little problem of the collision. The cop did rear-end her, so he is technically at fault.
But it’s nothing that a cop with a vivid imagination can’t remedy. A fudging of the truth here. A blatant lie there. A deus ex machina to kick things off on the sworn affidavit.
And voila, suddenly it’s the woman’s fault.
The only problem is, the scheme of the Hollywood police officers was caught on a dash cam video recorder.
So now the cat is out of the bag.
The officers decided to make up a story that the woman, Alexandra Torrensvilas, was driving around with a cat on her lap on February 17 when it suddenly sprang out the window of the moving vehicle.
You know, the way cats do some times.
This unexpected movement caused the woman to veer into the next lane, directly into the path of the officer. She then slammed on her brakes.
Meanwhile, the officer is distracted seeing this cat jump out the window of a moving vehicle. It could be a kid, after all, one of them says as they are conjuring the tale. Or to put it more precisely, “a fucking kid.”
The officers are Officer Dewey Pressley, 42, Officer Joel Francisco, 36, Sgt. Andrew Diaz, 39; and civilian Community Service Officer Karim Thomas, age unavailable.
They are all on paid administrative duty pending an internal affairs investigation and a review by the Broward State Attorney’s Office.
Below are a few statements from the transcript that was posted on JaaBlog, the South Florida legal justice blog that first broke this story. You can also hear it in the video in the South Florida Sun Sentinel article.
First cop: And there is no reason in your head whether you keep a safe distance or not, you would be anticipating someone to abruptly slam on the brakes unless you see a large object coming and especially — as far as I am concerned I am going to put words in his mouth. She went to accelerate a cat jumped out, literally a cat jumped out the window at which time as he thought
Second cop: (Laughing) .
First cop:– could have been a pedestrian, which distracted him because he was concerned and that’s normal. And before he comes to a stop, boom. Hey.
Second cop: A. (Unintelligible) .
First cop: Actually, I mean I wouldn’t expect a cat to come out. I mean it could have been a fucking kid jump out the fucking window.
Second cop: That’s exactly what I thought. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on.
***
First cop: Yes. Just let me space the whole thing out. i will do the narrative for you. I know how I am going to word this, the cat gets him off the hook.
First cop: Well, is there any way — this is what I want to articulate that she was in this lane and cut over to this lane. It was at the angle what I tried to do with my head on camera is follow the cat. If the cat were to jump you could get to her exactly. That’s what I want.
I will write the narrative out for you. I will tell you exactly how to word it so it can get him off the hook.
Second cop: Okay
***
First cop: Well, I don’t want to make things up ever, because it’s wrong, but if I need to bend it a little bit to protect a cop I’m gonna. You see the angle of her car –
Second cop: Yes.
First cop: You see where it’s like this?
Second cop: Yes.
First cop: As far as I am concerned I am going to word it she, is in the left hand lane.
Second cop: Okay.
First cop: And when the cat jumped out she abruptly got over to this lane and slammed on the brakes.
***
First cop: Andre. .. Andre, come here a minute. We’ll do a little Walt Disney to protect the cop because it wouldn’t have matter because she is drunk anyway. You see the angle of her car? You see where the collision is?
Cop taking pictures of “evidence”: Okay.
First cop: You have already taken photographs yes or no?
Cop taking pictures of “evidence”: Yes.
First cop: Is there any way — this is what I want to articulate that she was in this lane and cut over to this lane. It was at the angle what I tried to do with my head on camera is follow the cat. If the cat were to jump you could get to her exactly. That’s what I want.
You don’t have to get any pictures I need or any whatever, because I don’t want Joe to get any (unintelligible). That’s not fair to him. She is freaking hammered anyway.
Cop taking pictures: No problem.
So Torrensvilas is carted off to jail and Officer Dewey Pressley sits down to type up the probable cause affidavit. Like most cops, he is unable to unlock the caps key, which is essentially the same as yelling. But we’ve already seen what kind of guy he is.
He ends up charging her with DUI, DUI with property damage to others and improper lane change.
Here are a few excerpts from the affidavit, which is below the transcript in the above link:
APPROXIMATELY 50 FEET INTO THE INTERSECTION, OFFICER FRANCISCO OBSERVED A LARGE OBJECT DARK GRAY IN COLOR TO HAVE BECOME:’EJECTED OUT OF THE DRIVER’S FRONT WINDOW OF THIS RED TOYOTA. THIS RED TOYOTA WITHOUT ANY WARNING CHANGED ITS COURSE OF TRAVEL INTO THE CENTER LANE WHICH OFFICER FRANCISCO WAS OCCUPYING.
THIS VEHICLE ABRUPTLY APPLIED ITS BRAKES AND CAME TO A COMPLETE STOP IN FRONT OF OFFICER FRANCISCO LEAVING HIM NO COURSE OF ACTION BUT TO STRIKE THE RIGHT REAR OF THE RED TOYOTA WITH THE LEFT FRONT OF HIS POLICE VEHICLE.
***
OFFICER FRANCISCO STATED THAT THE ARRESTEE TORRENS MADE A SPONTANEOUS STATEMENT THAT “IT JUST JUMPED OUT”, AT WHICH TIME HE QUESTIONED WHAT HAD JUMPED OUT. THE ARRESTEE STATED” A LARGE GRAY STRAY CAT”, WHICH HAD BEEN SITTING ON THE ARRESTEE’S LAP WHILE SHE WAS OPERATING THIS VEHICLE. WITHOUT ANY INDICATION THIS C/T HAD JUMPED OFF OF THE ARRESTEE’S LAP AND OUT OF THIS VEHICLE THROUGH THE OPEN DRIVER’S WINDOW WHILE THIS VEHICLE WAS IN TRANSIT. THIS HAD DISTRACTED THE ARRESTEE, CAl,lSING HER TO LOOK BACK TOWARDS HER LEFT AND THE ARRESTEE STEERED THIS VEHICLE RIGHT INTO OFFICER FRANCISCO’S PATH OF TRAVEL.
***
THIS OFFICER WHILE ADMINISTERING THIS BREATH TEST DID OBSERVE WHAT APPEARED TO BE GREY IN COLOR CAT HAIRS AFFIXED TO THE ARRESTEE’S CLOTHING.
Cops introduced a feline deus ex machina to twist the truth their way
