A police dash cam video landed two Hollywood officers in hot water. Wednesday, Joel Francisco and Dewey Pressley were in Broward County Jail on $100,000 bond after being charged with four counts of Official Misconduct, four counts of falsifying records and one count of conspiracy to commit official misconduct and one count of conspiracy to falsify records.
Former Hollywood cops Joel Francisco and Dewey Pressley leave Broward County Jail after posting $100,000 bond. The two are charged with four counts of Official Misconduct, four counts of falsifying records and one count of conspiracy to commit official misconduct and one count of conspiracy to falsify records.
The two former Hollywood cops who allegedly tried to frame a motorist for an accident they actually committed were in court Thursday where both pled not guilty to charges of official misconduct relating to the February 2009 incident.
Joel Francisco and Dewey Pressley are facing four counts of official misconduct, four counts of falsifying records, one count of conspiracy to commit official misconduct and one count of conspiracy to falsify records.
Francisco, 37, and Pressley, 43, were arrested in June and both have been out on $100,000 bail as they await trial.
The two ex-cops, along with three other Hollywood Police Department employees were part of an elaborate cover up that included staged crime-scene photos, an imaginary cat and a coordinated lie that all happen to be caught on one of the cop's patrol car video camera.
On Feb. 17, 2009, Francisco, an 11-year veteran of the force, crashed into the back of a car being driven by Alexandra Torrensvilas as she was stopped at a red light.
Instead of taking blame for the accident, Francisco and Pressley began concocting a story which would pin the crash on Torrensvilas, who was arrested at the scene for DUI.
Pressley, a 21-year veteran of the force, was caught on a police dashboard camera telling the other officer they'd do "a little Walt Disney to protect the cop," and began making up a story about a cat.
"As far as I'm concerned. I'm going to put words in his mouth. She went to accelerate and a cat jumped out of the window at which point he thought it could have been a pedestrian, which distracted him," Pressley tells Sgt. Andrew Diaz, another veteran of the force. "I mean what's the chances of hitting a f---in drunk when a cat jumps out of the window?"
Torrensvilas, who was actually drunk, was handcuffed in the back seat while the cops conjured up a story to frame her.
"I know how I'm going to word this with the cat so we can get him off the hook. I'll write the narrative," Pressley says in the video. "We're going to bend this a little bit. We'll do a little Walt Disney to protect the cop because it wouldn't have mattered because she is drunk anyway."
The charges against Torrensvilas were eventually dropped and the participants in the fairy tale were fired earlier this year.
Francisco and Pressley face a maximum of 30 years behind bars.
