BSO Deputy Arrested For Confrontation With Driver
PLANTATION (CBS4) - A Broward Sheriff's deputy is under arrest and on administrative leave after he got into a confrontation with a driver last year.
According to the his arrest warrant deputy Paul Pletcher, 37, will likely face a number of charges including burglary by conveyance, battery and criminal mischief.
Neyda Osorio said on May 23rd she was drove her Ford F-150 truck out of a shopping center on 441 near Broward Boulevard headed westbound. She then made a u-turn and started heading east when her passenger, Selvin Guerra, noticed that a deputy was trying to get their attention.
Osorio said Pletcher, who was driving a newer model white Dodge Charger with police striping and a police light bar mounted on top of the vehicle, was verbally abusive.
One of Osorio's attorneys, Edward McGee, described what Osorio heard the deputy saying.
"The officer made ethnic slurs about her Hispanic heritage and told her essentially to go back where she came from," said McGee.
She pulled over and as Pletcher came up to them, Osorio asked Guerra to record on her Blackberry.
According to a Plantation Police search warrant, Osorio said Pletcher "repeatedly demanded they give him the phone stating they would be placed under arrest if they did not turn it over."
Osorio claims Pletcher restrained her when he reached into her truck and put his arm across her neck. He then grabbed her cellphone out of her purse.
She said there was a struggle and her wrist was injured.
Osorio also said she handed Pletcher her driver's license and green card. According to the arrest report, Pletcher looked at the green card and "then threw it at her striking her in the face area."
At that point, Osorio said Pletcher told her to drive into a bank parking lot. Pletcher drove away with Osorio's cellphone and driver's license.
Osorio told the bank's security guard what had happened and asked to use his cellphone to call 911.
When Plantation police arrived, they found part of Osorio's phone in the bank's parking lot. It's battery and case were found in the driveway of the East Grove Apartments on West Broward Boulevard.
BSO forensic techs put the phone back together and downloaded the video. Two of Pletcher's former supervisor's at BSO identified him in the video.
Osorio said she is still shocked over the incident.
"I never believed a police officer would act in this way," she said, as translated by another of her attorneys, Paul Finizio.
The search warrant is for Pletcher's marked BSO vehicle. The warrant says that Osorio's driver's license has not been recovered.
The warrant also says "Pletcher was not on duty during the time of this incident and there is no indication of any radio contact with B.S.O. dispatch" during the traffic stop.
