MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Colleagues identified a former Miami Beach police officer dancing in uniform on TikTok as Louis Lergier.
He resigned after the department said he sent inappropriate texts to a juvenile female asking, among other things, if she “was a virgin.”
Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements said if he didn’t resign that Lergier would have been fired.
“Mr. Lergier’s actions are not acceptable, nor do they reflect the standard of excellence continuously set forth by the hardworking men and women of the Miami Beach Police Department.”
An internal affairs report obtained by Local 10 News has the details.
“(The juvenile) was walking her dog. Officer Lergier was jogging. They both engaged in trivial conversation. Officer Lergier said ‘I’m a cop, so you don’t have to worry about me being a creep or anything.’ "
It is alleged that “Officer Lergier pressured her to get an Instagram account. They started messaging.”
In an internal affairs interview, Lergier is asked:
“Did you ask the juvenile, ‘Are you into ‘older’ “?
Lergier answers: “Yes, because she could probably speak to older people.”
The investigator then goes on to say:
“But why would you ask if she is a virgin?”
Lergier: “It was uh, it was just a question . . .and the fact that I asked, you know, that probably one of the, I guess you could say, the biggest mistakes I did.”
The officer said in the report that he thought the woman was 19 or 20-years-old.
Legier was not criminally charged. Legal expert Eric Schwartzreich weighs in.
“It was certainly inappropriate behavior but the issue is he didn’t solicit her for sex specifically,” said Schwartzreich.
And what about the “virgin” comment?
“Even the detective in internal affairs thought it was inappropriate but the issue is that it does not spell out the act,” Schwartzreich said.