Miami Beach police are denying rumors that one of their officers was suspended for allegedly stealing cocaine from the department’s property room.
But they have confirmed that Officer Adam Tavss was “relieved of duty with pay” earlier this week for an “internal personnel matter that is currently under investigation.”
Tavss is the officer involved in two police shootings in four days in June.
“That (cocaine) rumor is not true,” said Miami Beach Police Officer Deborah Doty Saturday morning. “It has nothing to do with that.
“And it has nothing to do with the shootings.”
The rumors have been circulating on the internet as well as from tips pouring into the newsroom, most likely rising from the fact that Tavss had been investigated for cocaine use last year after a female officer accused him of using the drug in 2007.
Internal affairs closed that case with unsubstantiated findings after he passed a drug test.
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On June 14 at 4 a.m., Tavss shot and killed Husien Shehada, a 29-year-old unarmed tourist from Virginia who was walking with his brother on Collins Avenue.
Police say Shehada had a bottle under his shirt. Shehada’s family denies this. A surveillance video (above) shows Shehada lifting his arms in the air prior to being shot.
Tavss was allowed to return to patrol duty in four days.
On June 18, Tavss was involved in the shooting death of Lawrence McCoy, a 29-year-old drifter who witnesses said carjacked a taxi cab in the moments before he was shot on the MacArthur Causeway.
While witnesses say he had a gun, there is no evidence indicating he had a gun at the time he was shot. However, police say they recovered a gun in the waters below.
Tavss again was placed on paid administrative leave for three days, which police say is customary.
But instead of returning to patrol duty, he was placed on desk duty inside the department’s property room.
And it was there that he raised the suspicion of internal affairs officers to warrant an investigation.
And the State Attorney's Office is still investigating the two shootings.
