Let’s suppose it’s Saturday morning, and you decide to go and get your TV fixed while your stepson looks at some bikes at the bike shop next door. Sounds like a typically idyllic weekend morning in America, right? Now let’s say as you are in said TV repair shop, you hear the unmistakable screeching of car brakes and look outside just in time to see your car – which is parked right outside the store – rear ended by a massive SUV. Would kinda ruin your morning, huh?

OK, BUT AT LEAST I CAN GET MONEY FROM THIS GUY, RIGHT?

Now lets say you, being the good, law-abiding citizen you are, call the police and when they arrive they immediately accuse you of being illegally parked. Then, after being confronted with a letter from FDOT stating you were legally parked, the police insist you must have been making an illegal U-Turn, and that was how you got rear ended. The Police take statements from both store owners, and several eyewitnesses   who all attest that you were indeed parked and inside the store when the accident occurred. In a further quest for evidence against you, the police question your stepson, who after agreeing with all the other eyewitnesses, is told to stop lying or he will be taken to the Juvenile Detention Center. Apparently nobody’s story is the story they want to hear.

When all is said and done, the guy who slammed into your car walks away, and you get a ticket for making an illegal U-Turn. Even though no eyewitness said you were driving, and you were, in fact, just trying to get your TV fixed. Sounds like one of those Jim Crow-era cop stories from somewhere in rural Mississippi, doesn’t it?

No, no. This exact incident happened right here in Miami-Dade County on NW 107th St. and 7th Ave. back in 2004. The man who was ticketed, Blanton Harris, contested the ticket and had it thrown out for lack of prosecution. Aka the cop didn’t show up. And I mean, given that kind of ineptitude, I wouldn’t have shown up either.

MDPD TAKES CARE OF THEIR OWN

The braintrust officer who gave a ticket to a guy who’s legally-parked car was hit by a runaway SUV? Well, his name is Jorge Baluja. After the ticket was thrown out, Harris filed a formal complaint against the officer that was NOT SUSTAINED by the Miami-Dade Police for lack of corroborating witnesses to his story. Assuming there was not an unannounced meeting of the Miami Coalition for the Blind at the Broken Spoke Bike Shop that morning, one has to wonder what exactly the police were looking for in an eyewitness. Being across the street and seeing the whole thing apparently wasn’t enough.

MDPD’s Internal Review Panel took another subsequent look, and found Baluja to be completely in the wrong. It suggested that Ba;uja receive further instruction, be counseled on how to write reports, and training in being more courteous to witnesses. It also suggested that the incident be documented in not only Baluja’s file, but also that of Lt. Alexander Casas, Major Charles Nanney and Chief Leonard Burgess. Yes, THAT Chief Burgess. In other words, all the high-ups who ignored this incompetence were, ultimately, cited for being incompetent themselves.

NO BAD DEED GOES UN-UN-PUNISHED

So what happened to Crack Officer Baljua? Well, he is now Detective Baluja, a key part of the mayor’s Mortgage Fraud Task Force in the Economic Crimes Bureau. Grossly mess up a case and embarrass the entire department, get a promotion. I really need to get a job with MDPD.

Now this is Miami, and we are all familiar with police corruption here. Hell, after the 1980s this is barely even a blip on the radar screen. But honestly, imagine this were you. Harris only had PIP insurance (which is better than a lot people in Miami can say) so because the other driver was not faulted, he got no money to repair it even though he was just parked on a street on a Saturday morning. All because of shoddy police work.

I understand police have a hard job, and nobody is perfect. And really, I don’t believe this type of work is indicative of the kind of police we have in Miami. But Baluja is an embarrassment to all the good officers. With something as straightforward as this case, one has to wonder what kind of criteria the department is using to figure out who the good cops are, and who they’re not.

Matt Meltzer is a featured columnist at Miami Beach 411. Matt’s column appears Tuesdays. See more articles by Matt Meltzer >