Jury Finds Suspended Opa-locka Officer Guilty Of False Imprisonment, Tampering
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A jury found suspended Opa-locka police Sergeant German Bosque guilty of felony false imprisonment and tampering with a witness, but found him not guilty of battery.
The jury deliberated for about 2 hours Thursday night before convicting the so-called "dirtiest cop in Florida" on two out of three charges.
"I'm hurt obviously, disappointed, surprised, very surprised," Bosque told CBS4 News reporter Gaby Fleischman after the verdict. "I'm dubbed the dirtiest and most corrupt, it's just been out of control."
Watch Gaby Fleischman's report, click here.
Bosque, who has been fired a total of eight times by three different agencies, six times by Opa-Locka alone, was arrested for a 2011 incident in Opa-locka in which he allegedly punched a man during a domestic disturbance call.
When Korey Davis tried to go to the police station and file a complaint, Bosque forcefully removed him from the department's lobby, handcuffed him and placed him in a holding cell for 14 minutes.
Bosque did not threaten Davis with arrest until after Davis tried to file the complaint against him.
Bosque declined to testify in his defense, but maintained his innocence and stood by his actions after the verdict was read.
"You make a bad decision you should get written up, suspended, terminated, as is happened to me in the past and I've been able to fight for that, but to get arrested for making the decision," he said. "What's important for everybody to know is I'm against bad police men, I'm against dirty cops, I stand on the beside of good officers that are out there."
The prosecution said they stand by the jury's verdict.
"It's just never a good day when you have to bring down a police officer because we expect them to protect us, so it's kind of bittersweet," said assistant state attorney Sandra Miller-Batiste.
Bosque's defense attorney said they plan to appeal.
A judge allowed Bosque to remain free on bond under house arrest until his sentencing hearing. He could face a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The judge also withheld adjudication on the false imprisonment charge, and said he would review the evidence.
"Besides the community to answer to, I have a son, a baby to answer to, my family," said Bosque. "I like the person in the mirror so one day almighty god, so I know nobody could tell me: 'GB how could you?'"
During the trial, the defense called only two witnesses. Former Opa-locka Police Chief Cheryl Cason testified that Davis called her as Bosque was trying to get him to give up the child he was holding in his lap in the car.
"Let the child go to bed," Cason recalled telling Davis. "It's late, Korey, we can deal with this tomorrow."
Cason said she eventually directed Bosque to take the child.
"I told him to get the baby, give the baby back to (the mother), and that you could arrest him for obstruction."
Cason thought the threat of arrest would persuade Davis to surrender the baby.
While Cason helped corroborate Bosque's claim that he was acting under orders, she also bolstered Davis's claim that the cop slugged him in the face.
Over the cell phone, the Chief said she heard Davis say, "you hit me in the face." She then heard someone say "nobody hit you."
Cason said when Bosque called her from the police station to report that Davis had gone there to file a complaint, the officer made no mention of having handcuffed Davis and putting him in a holding cell.
"Bosque said 'he wants to file a complaint.' I said 'let him file a complaint. To arrest him would seem retaliatory.'"
The chief said she directed Bosque to see that someone took Davis's complaint, but Bosque didn't do that, escorting him from the station instead.
Joanna Flores, the mother of the child at the center of the domestic call, testified that she asked Davis to give her the baby repeatedly and he refused, and attempted to back into her when she tried to get into the car.
Other officers who were on the scene have testified they didn't believe Flores's claim, didn't think Davis had committed a crime and the issue was a custody dispute, not a police matter.
On Wednesday the alleged victim, Davis, was cross examined by the defense attorney, who got him to admit he refused police orders to hand over his son at the domestic call scene. Davis, a city employee, even conceded that he was on his cell phone with then Police Chief Cheryl Cason, who told him he should hand over the child, over whom he had no custody rights.
READ: Key Witness Returns To Stand In Trial Of Suspended Opa-locka Officer
Bosque has a checkered past with the police department. During his career there, he's been fired, then re-instated, eight times. The last time the city fired him, October 2012, Bosque faced a number of allegations including:
- Busting a handcuffed suspects skull
- Beating juveniles
- Caught with drugs and alcohol in his squad car
- Ripping off suspects
- Falsifying reports
- Participating in an unauthorized chase where four people were killed
- Calling in sick from Cancun.
Bosque says he has been wrongly portrayed in the news.
"Anybody who doesn't know me or know about the case exactly, they hate me. I hate myself when I read what the media says about me, and it's not true."
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