MIAMI – With some 1.28 million views, Claudia Castillo's YouTube video embarrassed a Miami-Dade police officer. When she asked him to stop, the polite police officer said he thought she needed help. But instead, she told him she was stopping him for speeding.
In the January 2016 video, Castillo said she followed him from Kendall to downtown Miami on the Palmetto Expressway. She accused him of pushing 90 miles per hour and said it was important that police officers "lead by example."
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In response to her daring request, Miami Police Department Lt. Javier "Javi" Ortiz used social media to target her as a "wanna be cop" and "cop hater." The police union president said it was to show his support for MDPD.
The doxxing incident was about a year ago. The department relieved him of duty with pay on Friday.
Castillo claims that when Ortiz started to face consequences over the social media attacks, she was afraid and filed a request for a restraining order on Wednesday. After Ortiz got served with the restraining order, the department reassigned Ortiz with pay pending an April 5 hearing.
Castillo first filed a complaint against Ortiz on Feb. 3, 2016. The official investigation revealed that after her video went viral officers from both MPD and MDPD requested her record from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle. Ortiz shared it on social media.
Ortiz also posted a picture of her business card on his Facebook account asking his friends to "feel free" to contact her. He also posted a picture of her at the helm of a boat with an unknown drink can in her hand and wrote "let her know drinking and driving on a boat isn't safe."
An internal affairs investigation first accused Ortiz of "discourtesy and improper procedure" and submitted their report to the city's Civilian Investigative Panel Dec. 16. The panel recommended on Tuesday that "harassment" be added to the official list of violations.
Ortiz who was hired on March 22, 2004 has 29 citizen complaints, one driving complaint and 17 use of force incidents, according to the CIP record. Ortiz was involved in the 2011 beating of Jesse Campodonico at the Ultra Music Festival. He was cleared of wrong doing. But he was reassigned just in time to avoid another encounter at Ultra this year.