Surprise! Cops lie and frame girl to protect their own.

motivez · 07-30-2009, 04:24 AM

Alexandra Torrensvilas was the target of cops who pinned a DUI on her for an accident they caused. Now she has been cleared of charges after the Broward State Attorney's Office officially dropped the four DUI citations on Wednesday.

But the saga is far from over as now prosecutors turn their attention to the four Hollywood police officers who made up an intricate story to cover for a February traffic accident involving a cop car. The scheme was caught on one of the officers dashboard cameras.

The disturbing video shows Alexandra Torrensvilas, 23, handcuffed in the back of the squad car as the officers get their stories straight on what they are going to say happened.

Officer Joel Francisco, 36, an 11-year veteran, crashed into the back of Torrensvilas' vehicle at a light on February 17 at midnight. The cop radioed to other officers who converged on the scene and hatched a way to bail Francisco out.

Officer Dewey Pressley, 42, arrives and questions Torrensvilas, who tells him that she has been drinking. The 21-year veteran officer seizes the opportunity and arrests her for DUI. But the plot thickens from there.

The cops begin to brainstorm believable excuses for the accident.

"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?"

Still, the cops run with the half-baked idea and rush to get Torrensvilas to do a Breathalyzer test so they can officially say she was drunk.

"I nailed her on the video. I already hung her on video. She said she has been doing a beer party," Pressley says. "She's gonna blow."

Then, another cop debates with Pressley on who is going to write up the fabricated report to clear their police comrade.

"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. "We're going to bend this a little bit."

Civilian Community Service Officer Karim Thomas joins the three senior officers and the four cops go so far as to change the angle of pictures of the accident to make it look like Torrensvilas swerved in front of the cop car and caused the accident, not Francisco.

Throughout the tape, the cops acknowledged what they are doing is illegal, but when you are the law, there is nothing wrong with bending it for a fellow cop, one says.

"I don't lie and make things up ever because it's wrong, but if I need to bend it a little bit to protect a cop, I'll do it," Pressley tells Francisco after reassuring him no one will ever find out. "She's freaking hammered anyway."

The cops even do a final rehearsal before Villa is taken to the city lock up.

"We'll take care of it," one officer says. The others reply: "We're good."

The police officers are currently on administrative duty pending a state attorney's office investigation.

Charges Dropped Against Woman Framed by Cops | NBC Miami

There's something wrong when the culture of police is to "protect their own" instead of doing what is right and telling the truth. I believe this is a widespread feeling among most cops.. that their loyalty is first to other police officers, and that's wrong.

This is why so many people have a hard time believing the "official story" when police officers come out and back one another up like in other incidents which have happened recently.

If there's a case where a cop will look bad for bullshit they've done, it's entirely likely other police who were there will do what they can to back up their buddy.

I'm not sure what can be done about it really, but something needs to be done to change this culture, as it's detrimental to society.

kinggovernor · 07-30-2009, 07:35 AM

so one anecdote is all it takes to ruin the reputation of the entire group?

there are 600k+ law enforcement officers in this country, of course there are some bad eggs in that group.

avsp · 07-30-2009, 09:02 AM

funny how all the cops who converged on this incident are seemingly 'bad apples'

Similarly odd is how whilst policing the G20 protest in London when one cop assulted a man, Ian Tomlinson, who posed no threat, none of his colleagues intervened. Further even after the Ian Tomlinson died none of the cops came forward, ..., it wasnt until several days after phone-cam footage became public that any cop who'd witnessed it came forward.

YouTube - G20 Meltdown - Death of Ian Tomlinson

I could tell several stories of cops covering for each other that I've directly witnessed myself.

Its the default behaviour in such 'band of brother' groups.

In the UK the fairly recent advent of numerous 'street hassle' laws/regs has just served to make the personal animosity between cops & the underclass all the greater meaning that the need for cops to know that their 'back is covered' greater still.
It just makes them feel that they are there more to serve each other than the general public

Donkey® · 07-30-2009, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

so one anecdote is all it takes to ruin the reputation of the entire group?

there are 600k+ law enforcement officers in this country, of course there are some bad eggs in that group.

You don't look at the news much. It's not ONE case...there are plenty to choose from.

SoFlaJDM · 07-30-2009, 09:09 AM

this is where i live... not the first time hollywood pd had been in the news for corrupt cops

3 ex officers get prison for corruption - USATODAY.com

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Three former police officers were sentenced Friday to federal prison for heroin trafficking and conspiracy charges stemming from an undercover FBI investigation into corruption at the department.
The ringleader, 41-year-old former Detective Kevin Companion, was sentenced to 14 years behind bars by U.S. District Judge James Cohn. The judge sentenced ex-officer Stephen Harrison, 46, to nine years in federal prison.
"The conduct exhibited by the defendants is disgraceful," Cohn said. "Not only have you disgraced the police department and yourself, you have disgraced your family."
Former Detective Thomas Simcox, 50, got more than 11 years behind bars in a separate sentencing appearance in Miami before U.S. District Judge Donald Graham, who called the case "disgusting." Prosecutors had recommended a nine-year sentence for Simcox.
All three officers had previously pleaded guilty to the charges.

yeah just 3 more "bad apples" i can't imagine how many more people were involved in this but were protected.

The Great Catpiss · 07-30-2009, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

so one anecdote is all it takes to ruin the reputation of the entire group?

there are 600k+ law enforcement officers in this country, of course there are some bad eggs in that group.

Not one. This is just another fine example of what happens quite often.

I have had plenty of personal experiences where the cops have wronged me. I wouldnt be surprised if most people do not have at least 1 personal encounter with a bad cop.

And the protect your own mentality is seriously flawed. If I was an officer, I would be pissed off at the crooked police officers. I would want to see them get steamrolled as when they screw up, they would make me look bad.

stolz25 · 07-30-2009, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by avsp

Its the default behaviour in such 'band of brother' groups.

Careful there, you were replying to someone in one of those groups.

motivez · 07-30-2009, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

so one anecdote is all it takes to ruin the reputation of the entire group?

there are 600k+ law enforcement officers in this country, of course there are some bad eggs in that group.

Maybe if this was a lone example of bullshit happening, but there's been plenty of other cases recently... and tons of examples throughout our history as a nation of scandals involving police officers protecting their own and covering up their wrongdoing, even if it means sending innocent people to jail or whatever.

If you're being honest, you'll admit there's a culture among police officers that protecting other cops is one of their highest priority, even if it conflicts with their responsibilities to uphold the law or protect citizens.

Are all cops going to be willing to do what these guys did? Of course not, but I'd wager that a great many of them would be willing to "bend" if it meant saving the career of someone they consider a "good cop."

The Great Catpiss · 07-30-2009, 05:15 PM

My father was a chief of police on a military base as one of his many jobs... Anyhow, there was this officer in America that turned in his whole station for crimes. They sent him to another country in protective custody as there were a lot of officers out to get him for turning in his "brothers" They felt that he could not be safe in the United States.

HughRuss · 07-30-2009, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

so one anecdote is all it takes to ruin the reputation of the entire group?

there are 600k+ law enforcement officers in this country, of course there are some bad eggs in that group.

Wanna know an awesome site?
List of cases of police brutality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are many other cases, being:
"Jimmy Justice" Videos: Vigilante Films Cops Breaking The Law In New York
Armed and Safe: Illinois State Police breaking the law. Again.
KopBusters Episode #1 -- Free Yolanda!

There are many, many, many cases.

While there are many "good apples" as it were, there are a plethora of others who fall on the other end of the spectrum. You know it's not just one case. Policemen have continually sullied their code-blue reputation. The prevailing popular belief anymore is "blues before the rabble." The moment any of them catches the scent of a fellow blue falling into public scrutiny for nefarious activity, they rally 'round.

YouTube - Bulls On Parade - Rage Against The...

David Octavius · 07-30-2009, 06:07 PM

These kind of incidents and the way it is projected to all of law enforcement is a bit unfair to cops....lets say 95% of all cops are good, that leaves 5% bad. If there are 600K police that would make 30K bad cops. The large the number of total police leads inevitably to an increasing number of bad ones and the larger the number of bad incidents - its a numbers game. What if the total number of cops went to 800K and the percentage of bad cops went down to only 4%. The number of bad cops increase by 2K even though the number of good ones increased by 198K!

In the end people remember the negative and not the positive, the police force is probably getting better but as the total number increases, it increases the chance of bad ones doing something stupid and making them all look bad. So while there is probably well over 570K good, honest police that want to protect the people, the small random idiots are the ones that give them an underserved bad name.

kinggovernor · 07-30-2009, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by SoFlaJDM

this is where i live... not the first time hollywood pd had been in the news for corrupt cops

3 ex officers get prison for corruption - USATODAY.com

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Three former police officers were sentenced Friday to federal prison for heroin trafficking and conspiracy charges stemming from an undercover FBI investigation into corruption at the department.
The ringleader, 41-year-old former Detective Kevin Companion, was sentenced to 14 years behind bars by U.S. District Judge James Cohn. The judge sentenced ex-officer Stephen Harrison, 46, to nine years in federal prison.
"The conduct exhibited by the defendants is disgraceful," Cohn said. "Not only have you disgraced the police department and yourself, you have disgraced your family."
Former Detective Thomas Simcox, 50, got more than 11 years behind bars in a separate sentencing appearance in Miami before U.S. District Judge Donald Graham, who called the case "disgusting." Prosecutors had recommended a nine-year sentence for Simcox.
All three officers had previously pleaded guilty to the charges.

yeah just 3 more "bad apples" i can't imagine how many more people were involved in this but were protected.

system worked there, law enforcement investigated bad cops and got them off the street and into prison

kinggovernor · 07-30-2009, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

Maybe if this was a lone example of bullshit happening, but there's been plenty of other cases recently... and tons of examples throughout our history as a nation of scandals involving police officers protecting their own and covering up their wrongdoing, even if it means sending innocent people to jail or whatever.

If you're being honest, you'll admit there's a culture among police officers that protecting other cops is one of their highest priority, even if it conflicts with their responsibilities to uphold the law or protect citizens.

Are all cops going to be willing to do what these guys did? Of course not, but I'd wager that a great many of them would be willing to "bend" if it meant saving the career of someone they consider a "good cop."

this was a failed cover up, the checks and balances put in place by law enforcement caught this. The system is working exactly as designed.

Donkey® · 07-30-2009, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

this was a failed cover up, the checks and balances put in place by law enforcement caught this. The system is working exactly as designed.

What does this have to do with your "anecdotal" comment? It's not anecdotal at all. It's a pretty common thing...cops doing bad things.

The Great Catpiss · 07-30-2009, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by David Octavius

These kind of incidents and the way it is projected to all of law enforcement is a bit unfair to cops....lets say 95% of all cops are good, that leaves 5% bad. If there are 600K police that would make 30K bad cops. The large the number of total police leads inevitably to an increasing number of bad ones and the larger the number of bad incidents - its a numbers game. What if the total number of cops went to 800K and the percentage of bad cops went down to only 4%. The number of bad cops increase by 2K even though the number of good ones increased by 198K!

In the end people remember the negative and not the positive, the police force is probably getting better but as the total number increases, it increases the chance of bad ones doing something stupid and making them all look bad. So while there is probably well over 570K good, honest police that want to protect the people, the small random idiots are the ones that give them an underserved bad name.

Since it is only the bad cops that harass me, it appears that 90% of the police are bad.

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

this was a failed cover up, the checks and balances put in place by law enforcement caught this. The system is working exactly as designed.

I disagree. While the checks and balances worked as designed, the system as a whole is not.
1. This shouldn't happen in the first place.
2. It could have slipped through the cracks.

motivez · 07-30-2009, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

this was a failed cover up, the checks and balances put in place by law enforcement caught this. The system is working exactly as designed.

I'd say any kind of system which breeds a culture where officers care more about protecting other officers than they do upholding the law and protecting the rights of citizens isn't working well

JDTC · 07-30-2009, 08:37 PM

Is there any nation in which those in power have a few among their ranks who abuse that power? No organization is perfect, no organization is without it's evil. However, improvement isn't something to shrug away. As much as the system can be improved, power abuse will always remain. It is inevitable.