Honestly folks, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN SOUTH MIAMI?!

For fucks sake, just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger in South Miami, the word on the street is that there is an all out war going on between rival factions within the city government, as we discussed earlier this week the first real victim was this poor Canadian citizen named Warren Papove.  Even Maricopa county's Sherrif Joe Arpaio wouldn't be able to figure out what's going on in South Miami.  In Arizona the Anglos deport hispanics, in South Miami the Hispanics deport Anglos!  


Mr Papove found himself caught in the crossfire between two groups within the city, one group that seems hell bent on turning over every leaf in an effort to root out corruption and backroom dealing while the other group seems be operating on the outer fringes of legality (IE illegally steering city work to businesses owned by friends and family).  I know labeling Mr. Papove's arrest and subseqent detention as some sort of politcal revenge may be rather far fetched, that is till you read his arrest report.  Take a look for yourselves...

Warren Papove Arrest Report

Now honestly, who's the target of this arrest report?  I don't know but to me it seems like it's more about Commissioner Bob Welsh than it is Mr. Papove.  Besides that, the whole report seems like something out of the Twilight Zone...

AN ANONYMOUS PASSER BY, OBSERVED PAPOVE WORKING IN A YARD AT THE INTERSECTION OF SW 74 ST AND SW 63 AVE AND BECAME CONCERNED THAT HE WAS THERE WORKING WITHOUT A PERMIT.

No shit, really?  

CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER STRUDER, D. RESPONDED TO THE SCENE IN ORDER TO CONDUCTAN INVESTIGATION.

Fuck me, around 5 pm on a Friday no less.  Way to go Officer Struder, while most city employees are either getting ready to leave work or on their way home already, Officer Struder is out and about looking for code enforcement violations?  Ok...

UPON ARRIVAL HE MET WITH POPOVE AND DETERMINED THAT POPOVE WAS NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY CITY ORDINANCES.

Ok, this is where the entire interaction should have ended, that is until...

WHILE DRIVING PASS (sic) THE SCENE, DET. MENDEZ, RECOGNIZED PAPOVE AS A PERSON WANTED FOR AN IMMIGRATION VIOLATION, FROM A WANTED FLYER.

This is where I have to call bullshit.  Here we are having this lovely interaction between a code enforcement officer late on a Friday afternoon when Detective Mendez just happened to drive past these guys and he just happened to recognize Mr. Papove from a wanted poster.  Bullshit, I believe this interaction is much more likely to have happened than Detective Mendez recognizing this guys face from a wanted poster...

Now this is where things start to get really sketchy...

WHILE AT THE SCENE PAPOVE BEGAN SPEAKING TO DET. MENDEZ AND STATED THAT HE HAS BEEN A RESIDENT OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI SINCE 2OO2 AND HAS RESIDED IN SEVERAL RESIDENCES WHILE DOING HANDYMAN WORKAROUND THOSE
RESIDENCES. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE IS FRIENDS WITH MANY RESIDENTS IN SOUTH MIAMI TO INCLUDE BOB WELSH, CONNIE STREIGER, AND CONNIE BINGERMAN TO NAME A FEW. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE WORKS FOR THESE RESIDENTS AS A HANDYMAN DOING ODD JOBS. 

Ok, and?  What exactly does this have to do with anything?  Now let's go back to the conclusion that code enforcement officer Strudder came to just a few moments ago...

...DETERMINED THAT POPOVE WAS NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY CITY ORDINANCES.

That's it, end of story.  From this point on, if Mr. Papove was detained, in my opinion his detention was illegal and any statements that he made can be suppressed.  Plus, we have to ask, was Detective Mendez cross deputized with ICE?  If not, I don't even think he had the legal standing to detain Mr. Papove, let alone ask him any kind of questions.  Remember, this is just my opinion as a lay person but I suspect that I'm not far off the mark.


Moving on...

PAPOVE SAID THAT HE WORKED FOR BOB WELSH IN SEBRING, FLORIDA HELPING HIM BUILD A HOUSE FROM THE BOTTOM UP. PAPOVE STATED HE WORKED THERE FOR APPROXIMATELY TEN (IO) MONTHS. 

So what?  Why does this incident report have any mention of working for Welsh or anyone else if not to harm Mr. Welsh in some way shape or form?  See what I'm getting at here?

PAPOVE SAID HE LIVED IN A BARN ON THE PROPERTY AND USED A BUCKET AS A RESTROOM. 

And what the fuck difference does it make where Mr. Papove takes a fucking shit?  

Why exactly is the matter of where Mr. Papove drops a load included in a police report unless he's being cited for doing something with his shit that's illegal?!!

HE STATED THAT HE DID YARD WORK AND DELIVERED FLYERS. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE TRIMS TREES AND BUSHES AND DOES YARD WORK FOR CONNIE STREIGER AND CONNIE BINGERMAN. PAPOVE STATED THAT HE GETS PAID IN CASH OR IN CASES OF BEER.

I'm not sure what the hell any of this has to do with why Detective Mendez detained Mr. Papove other than to create a record of some sort of alleged wrong doing by the other people mentioned in the incident report. As I mentioned before, my opinions are just that, opinions of a lay person.  What I do know is that there are at least two very, very good immigration and criminal law attorneys going over this incident right now, I can only hope that the law enforcement officers involved conducted this detention by the book otherwise there's going to be hell to pay.  In the mean time, if you're driving through  South Miami, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR PAPERS!