Fmr. BSO Deputy Guilty Of Battery During Road Rage Incident
FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A jury has convicted a former Broward Sheriff's deputy of battery stemming from a road rage incident.
The jury, however, acquitted Paul Pletcher on the remaining charges of burglary, criminal mischief and petty theft. A mistrial was declared at his original trial after the judge had to leave during the proceeding due to a family emergency.
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Pletcher was captured on cell phone video in a confrontation with a woman he had pulled over back in 2011.
At the time, Pletcher was off-duty but driving a marked BSO patrol car.
He reportedly pulled Neyda Osario over after she allegedly had made a U-turn.
Prosecutors say, after a heated exchange, Pletcher reached into her vehicle and grabbed Osorio's cell phone and then tried to destroy it.
"I never believed a police officer would act that way," said Osario in the past. She was not in court for the verdict.
Plantation police recovered the phone and were able to extract the cell phone video that shows Pletcher shouting at the woman to give up the phone.
Osario's passenger that day, Selvin Guerra, said that the two exchanged obscene gestures and that Pletcher made racial slurs.
Pletcher, who was terminated by the sheriff's office in 2012, was sentenced to 12 months probation and a three day jail term.
"I'm happy he was exonerated. On the more serious charges but the verdict is inconsistent so we will appeal. That's why we have our system of checks and balances," said Defense Attorney Al Milian.
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