More than 40 cases linked to four Fort Lauderdale officers who lost their jobs over a racist video and text messages have been dropped, the Broward State Attorney's Office said Thursday.
In all of the dropped cases, at least one of the four police cited in the racist missive scandal was the principal officer involved in the arrest of a black defendant.
“This is a serious matter. We continue to review each case in which these former policemen were the principal officers involved in the arrest," state attorney spokesman Ron Ishoy said said in a statement. "We are dropping charges against the defendants where it is appropriate."
Eight misdemeanor cases and 12 felony cases have already been dropped, along with one juvenile case, Ishoy said. Another 17 misdemeanor cases are scheduled to be dropped while 11 misdemeanor cases where the defendants already pleaded guilty are under review.
"At this point, we have a number of individuals that are still in custody, still in jail awaiting resolution, awaiting court dates and the state attorney's office has not moved to dismiss those individual cases," public defender Gordon Weekes said.
Officers Jason Holding, James Wells and Christopher Sousa were fired following an extensive internal affairs investigation, Police Chief Frank Adderley announced last month. A fourth officer, Alex Alvarez, resigned during the course of the investigation and would have been fired, Adderley said.
The inappropriate material included images of President Barack Obama and fellow Fort Lauderdale Police officers, Adderley said. The video was made by Alvarez using iMovie, Adderley said.
According to a police report on the firings, the officers criticized co-workers' appearance and work ethic, and they "exchanged text messages that included derogatory comments towards Hispanics and homosexuals."
"There's a likelihood that officer had engaged in misconduct, may have falsified evidence, reports, based on their predatory nature and predatory policing," Weekes said.
According to a police report on the firings, the officers criticized co-workers' appearance and work ethic, and they "exchanged text messages that included derogatory comments towards Hispanics and homosexuals."
In response to the incident, the department has created a human diversity class that every officer will attend on a yearly basis, and they will be evaluating their screening process for newly hired employees.
Local
"Every single case involving these officers, no matter what race, what gender, should be reviewed," Weekes said.
