Miami Police And FHP Settle Differences With Softball Game

It started back in October when a Florida Highway Patrol officer had the gall to pull over a speeding Miami police officer who was barreling down I-95 at 120 MPH.

FHP Trooper Donna Watts said she wasn’t sure if Fausto Lopez was a real cop, so she approached the car with her gun drawn.

Then she ordered Lopez, who was in full uniform, out of his squad car and handcuffed him.

The entire incident was captured on her dash cam video, which eventually made its way to the media and Youtube.

The incident also sparked a fury of negative comments from Miami police officers on internet forums, some comments even bordering on physical threats.

Here are just a few comments from Leo Affairs:

The pointing a weapon at a uniformed officer for this type of violation is crazy. Where in the equation does she have the right to go to this level. It is a good thing it was a rookie or her video may have showed a cop shooting her. As a 12 year veteran I along with many other well respected cops would react very differently if anyone points a gun at me including another so called officer.

I know from being FHP for so long that since she is a female it will get brushed under the carpet.

It sickens me to recall an incident back in 1999! I was driving and had two very good friends in my vehicle, one a pompano cop (now broward sheriffs dept), and a Hollywood cop. I was a little over the speed limit (maybe 8-10 mph), they both say, “YOU BETTER SLOW DOWN”.....I started laughing, believing they were joking! They said, “NO, YOU REALLY NEED TO SLOW DOWN, THE FHP WILL WRITE YOU A TICKET!! I said “YOU’VE GOT TO B KIDDING ME”....any cop who would write another cop, SHOULD TURN IN THEIR BADGE!! Made me even prouder to be from the northeast! WHETHER THE COP WAS MALE OR FEMALE, DOESN’T MATTER, THIS AND SHE, IS A DISGRACE!!!!!

The message was clear. That cops are above the law. And Watts, for whatever reason, was not aware of that fact.

The feud continued to escalate when a Miami police officer pulled over a state trooper several miles outside of city limits.

It turns out the state trooper that Miami police officer Thomas Vokaty pulled over had a brother that worked in the internal affairs division of the Miami Police Department.

Vokaty ended up getting disciplined for his obvious retaliatory traffic stop.

Tensions continued to mount when Florida state trooper and former Miami City Commissioner Joe Sanchez woke up to find his car covered in feces, apparently at the hands of Miami police officers, although nothing has been proven yet.

While both sides squabbled like school kids, the general public was disgusted by the whole affair.

So the two police agencies decided to bury the hatchet at a softball game on Saturday.

The Miami Police Department, dressed in blue, trounced the Florida Highway Patrol, dressed in brown, by a score of 17-3 in a nine-inning game that was filled with blunders, laughs and even a few spectacular plays.

When it was over, both sides shook hands and hugged each other with the comfortable knowledge that they would be able to break the speed limit without fear of getting pulled over.

So in that regard, both sides emerged as winners.

All photos by Carlos Miller

 

Related Links: • More Questions Arise As Second Police Shooting Video Is Released • Summer of Police Shootings Can’t End Well • Unarmed Tourist Shot Dead By Police; Family Wants Answers Related Categories: Miami: Local News, Carlos Miller is a featured writer at Miami Beach 411. He also operates Photography is Not a Crime, a blog about photographer rights, New Media and First Amendment issues. See more articles by Carlos Miller. See more articles by Carlos Miller Was This Post Helpful? Please Share It With Others! Tweet

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