Last Friday, Jerry Iannelli and Tim Elfrink broke a story in Miami New Times about the latest episode of craziness by Javier Ortiz, the City of Miami's Police Department's perennial candidate for Thug Cop Of The Year, when they revealed that Ortiz had been "reassigned to desk duty and stripped of his gun," because a Miami-Dade County judge had issued an emergency restraining order against Ortiz, instructing him to stay away from Claudia Castillo, the woman who became famous last year for chasing down and reporting a Miami-Dade cop for speeding on I-95.

In the aftermath of that hullabaloo, Ortiz had gone after her by posting her personal cell phone number and photo, and encouraging his fellow cops to call her up and harass her.

She filed a complaint with the Civilian Investigative Panel, and after they ruled in her favor Ortiz allegedly followed her downstairs, and in her request for a restraining order, she wrote, " "and when I attempted to leave City Hall, he followed me toward the parking lot. Javi was visibly upset and was stopped by several individuals including police officers who were present. I had to be escorted to my car because I was in fear for my safety."

In a subsequent story, New Times wrote about the Twelve Times Miami Police Union President Embarrassed the City, but unfortunately they left out several other examples including this example that was one the first stories that I wrote about Ortiz and his BFF Edward Lugo, and how, in a case that originated in 2010, and carried forward to 2012, they terrorized a couple, who subsequently filed and prevailed in a hearing before the Civilian Investigative Panel.

The incident started when Lugo and another cop were out driving around in a pickup truck posting yard signs for Tomas Regalado's first campaign for Mayor and almost ran into a car driven by Carlos Sosa.  

Words were exchanged, and Lugo called for help and Ortiz showed up on the scene, whereupon Sosa ended up getting arrested.

Sosa took the case to trial, and won, and as the letter below described it, both Ortiz and Lugo harassed Sosa and his girlfriend in the courthouse, and for good measure harassed his attorneys on the street after the trial.

For some inexplicable reason, a letter was never sent to the Chief of Police regarding the findings of the CIP until I showed up to look at the file and asked for a copy of the letter, at which point, it was admitted that no letter had ever been written.  That's why the letter starts, "I belatedly call to your attention..."

In any event, the letter was sent to then Chief Orosa, who did what he did with so many other examples of bad behavior by Ortiz during the time he was Chief, he stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it.

The letter, and this case now become important because it establishes a pattern of behavior by Ortiz when it comes to his dealings with citizens who stand up against him by filing complaints.

At some point the Miami Police Department cannot continue to ignore Ortiz's behavior, or excuse their unwillingness to deal with him because of his standing at the president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Javier Ortiz is a danger and menace to the community, and the question is not if one day he will go completely crazy and shoot someone over something stupid, but when.