Cop arrests 19-year-old security guard after not following order

When burglary probe turns out to be false alarm, officer turns to arrest guard

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Police arrested a 19-year-old security guard who didn't follow an officer's order on Friday to immediately open the gate of the residential neighborhood where he works in Pembroke Pines. 

Pembroke Pines police officer Patrick Moriarty claims security guard Paul Leon Darling made it difficult for him to get into a gated community to investigate a burglary alarm. 

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Darling, of Miami Gardens, asked Moriarty for identification and the officer asked the guard for his. The officer said the guard made a phone call and didn't open the gate until a resident told him the officer was welcome. 

"Upon determining that a burglary had not occurred, I responded back to the scene of the guard gate, placed the suspect under arrest," the officer said. 

Moriarty said he was driving a marked police car and was wearing his uniform. 

He didn't take Darling to jail, but allowed him to sign a notice to appear in court at a later date. Darling faces an obstruction of justice without violence charge. 

 


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The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.