STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, ) CRIMINAL JUSTICE STANDARDS AND ) TRAINING COMMISSION, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 84-2943

)

LAMONT TAYLOR, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings, by its duly designated Hearing Officer, James E. Bradwell, held a public hearing in this case on January 28, 1985, in Miami, Florida. Respondent supplemented the record by submitting excerpts of the depositions of two witnesses pursuant to leave granted at the hearing.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Robert Rand, Esquire

Department of Law Enforcement Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302

For Respondent: Lamont Taylor, pro se

14404 NW 15 Drive

Miami, Florida 33167

ISSUE

The issue presented for decision herein is whether or not Respondent engaged in acts and/or conduct on July 27, 1983, which reduced his effectiveness as a law enforcement officer by committing a battery upon a police officer and failed to maintain good moral character as required pursuant to Section 943.1395(5), Florida Statutes, and Section 943.13(7), Florida Statutes.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Based upon my observation of the witnesses and their demeanor while testifying, documentary evidence received including post-hearing documents submitted by Respondent, I hereby make the following relevant factual findings.

1. By its Administrative Complaint filed December 19, 1984, as amended, Petitioner seeks to revoke the certification of Respondent, Lamont Taylor, who was certified by the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission on January 5, 1978. Respondent has been issued Certificate No. C-4405.

2. On July 27, 1983, Respondent was stopped by Louis Churukian, a general patrolman employed by the Metro-Dade Police Force in excess of two years. Officer Churukian was employed on the 12-8 shift on July 27, 1983, and arrested Respondent for speeding, to wit, 50 miles per hour in a 35 miles per hour zone on Northwest 163 Street in the area of 14th Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida.

   
   

3. In making the arrest, Respondent had to be apprehended with Officer Churukian using his emergency equipment (siren and emergency lights) for more than two blocks. When Officer Churukian was able to get Respondent to pull over, Respondent was told that he was observed speeding (50 miles per hour in a

   35 miles per hour zone) whereupon Respondent was asked to tender his driver's license. Respondent was unable to produce his driver's license and he remained belligerent and hostile to Officer Churukian throughout the time that he was being arrested.

   
   

4. Due to Respondent's hostile attitude, Officer Churukian requested the assistance of a backup officer who assisted in taking Respondent to a Metro-Dade police station for booking. Prior to placing Respondent under arrest, Officer Churukian asked Respondent if he had any weapons on his person whereupon Respondent advised that he had a gun in his waistband. Officer Churukian removed the weapon from Respondent's waistband which was a Smith and Wesson 357 revolver loaded with 6 rounds of "upper jacketed" ammunition. Respondent was transported to Station G where he was fingerprinted and booked for failure to produce a driver's license and later for battery upon a police officer.

   
   

5. After Respondent was booked and his handcuffs were removed, he approached Officer Churukian without warning and struck him in the soft tissue area of his throat. Officer Churukian was administered emergency treatment for soreness and inflammation in the soft tissue area of his throat. Throughout the arrest and booking procedure, Officer Churukian did not engage in any act which might be regarded as provocative to prompt Respondent to strike him. In what has been described as a "sucker punch" by Officer Charlie Lee Daye, a correctional officer employed in a shakedown area of the Metro-Dade County Jail since approximately May 29, 1976, Respondent knocked Officer Churukian to the floor of the police station.

   
   

6. Angel Nieves, a special response technician for Metro-Dade Police Force for a period in excess of thirteen years, was called upon to assist Officer Churukian to take Respondent to the jail. Special response technicians are always called upon when there are charges made against fellow police or correctional officers in Dade County. While Officer Churukian took Respondent to the jail, he was not abusive and Officer Nieves saw nothing that would prompt Respondent to strike Officer Churukian.

   
   

7. Respondent failed to offer any mitigating testimony or other evidence to refute the allegations set forth in the Petitioner's charges filed herein.

   
   

8. On April 5, 1994, respondent was accepted as a candidate for the State's Attorney's Deferred Prosecution Program and therefore he Respondent was not adjudicated guilty of the charges filed against him.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

9. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties to this action. Section 120.57(1), Florida Statutes.

10. The parties were duly noticed pursuant to the notice provisions of Chapter 120, Florida Statutes.

    
    

11. The authority of the Petitioner is derived from Chapter 943, Florida Statutes.

    
    

12. Respondent, by presenting a belligerent and angered disposition to a Metro-Dade police officer on July 27, 1983, when stopped for speeding and by walking up behind an arresting officer and striking him in the throat area with his fist, amounted to the commission of a battery upon a police officer and gross misconduct which seriously reduced his effectiveness to function as a correctional officer inasmuch as this incident occurred in the presence of other arresting officers. Such conduct is violative of Section 943.145, Florida Statutes, and Rule Chapter 11B-27, Florida Administrative Code. Based thereon, it is concluded that the Respondent engaged in acts and conduct violative of Section 943.1395(5) and has failed to maintain the qualifications established in Section 943.13(7), Florida Statutes.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, it is hereby recommended that the Respondent's Certificate Number C-4405 be revoked.

RECOMMENDED this 8th of July 1985, in Tallahassee, Florida.

JAMES E. BRADWELL

Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1550

(904) 488-9675

FILED with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 8th day of July 1985.

COPIES FURNISHED:

Robert Rand, Esquire Department of Law Enforcement Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302

Lamont Taylor 14404 NW 15 Drive

Miami, Florida 33167

Darylp McLaughlin Director

Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission

Post Office Box 1489 Tallahassee, Florida 32302

Docket for Case No: 84-002943

Orders for Case No: 84-002943