How not to make friends over at the City of South Miami Commission!

Over the last several years embattled City of South Miami police chief has enjoyed the support of the city commission, that is until we started shedding light on his nefarious schemes and unethical, perhaps illegal, activities.  Even after we exposed the chief's activities, he still enjoyed the support of three of the five city commissioners, specifically commissioners Newman, Liebman and Harris.  While commissioners Liebman and Newman still support the chief, recently Commissioner Harris has dropped his support for the chief and has become the swing vote in a number of important votes involving the chief, namely removing the code enforcement department and the city's parking department from the command and control of the chief, not to mention Tuesday's critical vote of no confidence.

With Commissioner Harris now firmly in the anti Orlando Martinez de Castro camp, the chief seems like he's now turned on his former ally.  You may remember that the chief and his cronies have been trying to flex their muscles on the other two commission members who were working to get rid of him, namely the Warren Papove mess that was used to some how exact revenge on Commissioner Welsh and that whole circus surrounding the break in at Mayor Stoddard's home that was designed to slander and embarrass the mayor. 

So logic would dictate that now that Commissioner Harris has switched sides, it's time for the chief to go after him, the way he chose to do so was rather embarrassing and fairly transparent.  The story starts with Commissioner Harris' wife Eda visiting a shopping mall called Dadeland Station located at 8312 South Dixie Highway.  At some point while leaving the mall, Mrs. Harris unknowingly bumped into a car parked next to hers, after pulling out of the spot, she then proceeded to go home.  A short while later, a Miami Dade Police Officer arrives at Mrs. Harris' home and informs her that she had bumped into a parked car while pulling out of the parking garage at the mall and issues her a ticket for leaving the scene of the accident.  To understand the severity of the "accident", one must first look at a photo of Mrs. Harris' car...

Upon first glance, there is no visible damage to the car.  After a closer look at the left front of the vehicle, there appears to be a couple of minor scratches to the front bumper, as always click on the photo to enlarge...

No big deal right?  It's barely noticeable  not to mention that the minor damage that's visible will more than likely buff out.  Whatever, shit happens, right?  The Miami Dade police officer goes ahead and writes a "Florida uniform traffic citation" that cites Mrs. Harris for "leaving the scene of an accident" which cites Florida statute 316.061(1) whose penalty is as follows:

A person who violates this subsection commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, $5 shall be added to a fine imposed pursuant to this section, which $5 shall be deposited in the Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund.

Big deal right?  Here's the ticket in question:

After receiving the ticket, Mrs. Harris is told that it would take three to four weeks to get a police report and that she should call the MDPD with the case number in order to check when the police report is ready.  All well and good right?  This is where things get interesting, now I'm told that two, you read that right, TWO city of South Miami police cars roll up to the Harris residence to deal with this situation.  Does that sound reasonable?  Four police cars in total roll up to a sitting commissioners home for a county cop write a ticket for an incident that occurred outside their jurisdiction?  WTF?  Even better, after being told by the MDPD that there wouldn't be a police report four several weeks, out of no where the City of South Miami pd prepares a report for the same incident on the SAME DAY!  WTF?!!!  Here's the City of South Miami police report...

But now according to the South Miami pd, this is no longer a matter of "leaving the scene of an accident" but instead a "hit and run".  Now, what comes to mind when you hear "hit and run"?  For me I picture something like this...

Not something like this...

Even better, according to the South Miami PD report, this accident didn't just involve Commissioner Harris' wife, they some how managed to get the Commissioner himself in to the report!  Now according the South Miami police report, one would be led to believe that the commissioner himself was involved in the accident.

WTF?!  What in the hell is this all about?  None of it made sense to me until I was told that there was a call from one of the local police departments to the Miami Herald stating that "Commissioner Harris was involved in a hit and run" after which the Herald dispatched one of their reporters to the South Miami PD to find out exactly what had gone on.  

Lame, lame, lame lame Chief.  This is the poorest excuse I've ever seen for creating a scandal.  What else would you expect though from a chief who's just weeks or perhaps days away from getting fired?