Miami cop busted for pulling over female drivers to gawk at their breasts

Thursday, September 13, 2012 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: Miami, cops, sexual misconduct

(NaturalNews) The vast majority of cops are decent, honest, hard-working heroes, which is what makes this story so noteworthy for its sheer outrageousness.

A police officer in Miami - home to the recent face-eating attack on a homeless victim by a man high on bath salts - has been arrested by federal authorities for allegedly pulling over female drivers for no other reason than to start up "sexually suggestive conversations," according to Tampa's local CBS television news affiliate, quoting the Miami Herald.

The cop, 33-year-old Prabhainjana Dwivedi, was arrested by FBI agents inside police headquarters recently.

Reports said Dwivedi had been working night patrol between Jackson Memorial Hospital and the Key Biscayne neighborhood before superiors assigned him to a desk in the summer of 2011 following complaints over his suspicious traffic stops, said the Miami Herald.

The criminal complaint filed by the FBI, which was obtained by the paper and written by Special Agent Susan Funk, said Dwivedi made numerous stops that took far longer than the customary traffic stop. The complaint also notes that Dwivedi made the stops "without probable cause, reasonable [suspicion] or other lawful authority to conduct a stop."

Pattern of lewd behavior

According to the report, during a stop on May 27, 2011, the lewd cop stopped a woman identified as A.R. after she left a Miami-Dade nightclub with two friends. The paper said Dwivedi asked her to exit her car and accompany him back to his police cruiser alone, where he allegedly told her to "lower the zipper on the front of her dress down past her breasts to her mid-stomach," an action which, the woman reportedly said, "somewhat exposed her breasts."

Dwivedi claimed that A.R., age 19, was drunk at the time and that she did not have her headlights turned on, the paper said. The woman allegedly disputed that claim, saying she was not driving under the influence. The FBI report said A.R. was held for about one hour and 20 minutes before eventually being released after being given a citation.

In a separate stop, the out-of-control officer reportedly stopped a 24-year-old bartender and accused her of also driving under the influence. When he noticed the woman, identified as M.F., had a child safety seat in her car, he told her she would lose custody of her child if she was arrested.

The report said the woman asked Dwivedi to give her a roadside sobriety test but he reportedly did not do so.

The Herald went on to report that Dwivedi then talked about the woman's breast-enhancement surgery, asking "if she had any photographs of her breasts." When he saw the photos, he allegedly went a step further, asking M.F. to see her scars.

"M.F. then lifted her shirt and showed Dwivedi the scar," said the FBI complaint.

Dwivedi then apparently allowed M.F. to drive home but he insisted on following her, in order - he said - to ensure her safety. Once there, Dwivedi said he was thirsty and asked for a drink of water. He wound up spending more than an hour there, M.F. said, talking mostly about his personal life.

"As in the previous incident, Dwivedi did not list the stop on his daily activity report or inform a dispatcher of the stop. He did not conduct a check of her driver's license, either," the Herald said.

Regular offender

A third complaint against Dwivedi accused him of pulling down his pants zipper in front of one woman after detaining two women and their boyfriends on June 5 of the same year, around 4:30 a.m.

Following several complaints the Miami-Dade department's internal affairs division conducted surveillance of Dwivedi's shifts and ultimately concluded he made a number of stops without probable cause.

Dwivedi, who is being arraigned Sept. 19, is being charged with depriving people of their civil rights. He was released on a personal bond of $150,000.

Sources:

http://tampa.cbslocal.com

http://www.miamiherald.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com