MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office released dashcam video Wednesday which captured the July arrest of Omar Fernandez, the Civilian Division chief for the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department.
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.
The dashcam video released Wednesday shows Fernandez performing those field sobriety exercises and he is heard pleading with a trooper as he was placed in handcuffs.
“My man, please!” Fernandez is heard saying in the video.
When told he was under arrest for DUI, he asked, “Are you serious?” and “My friend, just like that?“
When questioned about the crash, he said, “First of all, how do you know I hit that?”
Fernandez also downplayed the incident, telling a trooper, “I’m just saying bro, you’re going to take me in? No harm, no foul bro. It is what it is.”
And after troopers reminded him there was a 14-year-old boy in the other vehicle that had been hit, along with the teen’s mother, Fernandez pleaded again, “Come on man, come on man. Let’s do this right. Seriously.”
According to the arrest report, Fernandez 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.
MDCR told Local 10 News in a statement after the arrest that Fernandez has been “placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation.”
Local 10 assignment editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.
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