Welcome to Opa-Locka, where the line between the criminals and cops is sometimes blurred

Opa-Locka police officer Sergio Perez, left, working an
"off-duty" job on South Beach in March, 2013.

UPDATE: The Opa-Locka PD is looking for a few good men!

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It all started because of an "improper right turn."

Wednesday's wrong-way crash on I-95 that killed 4 innocent people was the culmination of a police chase that should never have happened, initiated by an Opa-Locka officer who should never have been hired.

Several sources are telling Random Pixels that the officer, Corporal Sergio Perez was kicked out of the police academy in 2006 after he was caught impersonating a police officer.

Perez was to be hired by the Miami Shores PD upon his graduation, but that never happened. Shortly after his expulsion from the academy, he was "picked up by Opa-Locka," a source tells me.

On his Facebook page, Perez says he graduated from Miami Beach High in 2005 and started work as a police officer in 2007.

Perez and the Opa-Locka PD are a perfect fit. This is the department, after all, that until recently, employed Sgt. German Bosque, "Florida's Dirtiest Cop." Bosque, who had been fired five times in 20 years, was fired a sixth time last October.

Opa-Locka Police Corporal Sergio Perez.

Tiny Opa-Locka - it's 4.1 sq. miles in size - is run in such a manner as to make some South American banana republics look absolutely functional by comparison.

The town has had 13 police chiefs in 20 years. One of those, recently retired Chief Cheryl Cason, hired in 1984, had two failed drug tests and more than 22 disciplinary charges before becoming chief.

Now, her successor, Chief Jeffrey Key, has some explaining to do after just a week on the job.

Opa-Locka's Assistant City Manager David Chiverton said that Perez broke off the chase at the exit ramp of Ives Dairy Road and I-95, but Local 10's Janine Stanwood reports...

...a recording of police communications during the pursuit showed an officer may have still been pursing Dumel when he entered I-95 going the wrong way.

"This guy is all over the road. Now he's going against traffic on I-95. We're going northbound in the southbound lanes," said an officer, according to the recording.

(NOTE: There are gaps in the audio below where nothing is being transmitted.)


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