MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office released photos Friday which they say shows Omar Fernandez, the Civilian Division Chief for the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department, sleeping in the front passenger seat of a vehicle before he was arrested last month on a DUI charge.
Records show Fernandez, 50, was booked into jail early in the morning on July 7 on charges of DUI and DUI causing damage to property or a person.
He was released from jail later that morning.
According to his arrest report, Fernandez was involved in a crash that occurred late at night on Sunday, July 6, in the area of Southwest 88th Street and Mills Drive in Kendall.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers said they arrived at the scene and found a white Toyota Camry in the intersection that had been involved in a crash with a Hyundai Palisade SUV.
Fernandez was found sleeping in the front passenger seat of the Camry, but the woman who had been driving the SUV told troopers that he was the person behind the wheel of the Camry when the crash occurred, the report stated.
According to the report, a trooper woke up Fernandez and asked him what happened.
Fernandez’s speech was “slurred, mumbled and incoherent,” his eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelled of an alcoholic beverage, the report stated.
Troopers said Fernandez agreed to perform field sobriety exercises, which he failed to perform successfully.
According to the arrest report, he also agreed to submit to Breathalyzer tests, with the results being .236 and .231.
Fernandez was taken to HCA Florida Doral Emergency to be medically cleared before he was booked into jail, authorities said.
“In accordance with department protocol, the employee was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation,” MDCR said in a statement last month.
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