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Wayne Saunders
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Tab 10
Daily Commercial, The (Leesburg, FL)
November 5, 2011
Cops fired for lying
Author: Brown, Roxanne
Clermont Police Officer Cecil Garrett was fired this week and three other officers were
reprimanded, after an investigation into a May 11 arrest concluded Garrett falsely charged a
teenager with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
"To terminate any employee is a serious matter, but for an officer to falsify a document or be
untruthful about an arrest is a serious infraction," Clermont Police Chief Steve Graham said
Friday. "It's one thing if an officer makes a mistake, but to knowingly charge a defendant with a
serious crime that you know didn't occur, that's different."
According to an Internal Affairs Investigation memo summarizing the incident leading up to
Garrett's termination, a complaint regarding the arrest was filed by the 19-year-old boy's uncle, a
retired 30-year detective for the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
"The complaint alleged that the probable cause affidavit and police report completed by Officer
Garrett was not correct and that the video from the in-car police camera, obtained by the
defendant's lawyer, showed that the defendant was not in the possession of cocaine with intent to
distribute as charged, and that the video clearly showed the charges as outlined in the police
report were false," the memo reads. "Furthermore, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Lab report showed that the illegal substance, of which the defendant was charged with
possessing, was not cocaine but a form of aspirin packaged to look like cocaine."
According to information in Garrett's original arrest report, he stopped the teen driving a friend's
car for having a defective tail light. The car was occupied by the driver and three other people.
Garrett initiated the stop on eastbound State Road 50 and the defendant pulled into a Staples
parking lot. Garrett's report said he saw five bags of "cocaine" fall from the teen's lap, but the
dash camera tape showed the bags were thrown from the left rear passenger side of the car by a
passenger sitting behind the driver's seat.
According to information provided by the police department, Garrett said he based the arrest on
"probable cause" and not the tape.
The officer viewed the tape, but "chose to ignore the evidence on the video" the investigation
showed. Furthermore, officers Dennis Hall and Marc Thompson watched it and expressed their
concerns to Garrett about the charges, but he held steadfast with his probable cause affidavit.
Garrett's negligent actions, the investigation concluded, caused the defendant to be wrongly
charged with a false and serious charge. The officer was terminated based on violations
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