| METRO | TAKEN 2: MIAMI BOOGALOO I t was the “The Slap Heard ‘Round the County”: Carlos “CJ” Gimenez allegedly assaulted Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla while the latter was lunching at a Coral Gables steak- house in February, landing the son of U.S. Rep. Carlos A. Giménez in the slammer overnight. Gimenez was charged with one count of simple battery in the February 9 incident, a charge he’s disputing the charge in county circuit court. But five months later, there’s a new devel- opment in the case. According to the latest agenda from Mi- ami’s Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP), Diaz de la Portilla’s sergeant-at-arms, Miami po- lice detective Stanley Paul-Noel, is under in- vestigation for allegedly attempting to kidnap Gimenez and take him to Miami police head- quarters. The July 21 CIP agenda states that a com- plainant identified as John Flaherty “called the CIP office requesting an investigation into why Sergeant at Arms Paul-Noel is es- corting Commissioner De La Portilla during lunch at a Coral Gables restaurant. It further alleges that “Mr. Flaherty stated that it was his understanding that the Sergeant at Arms and Commissioner De La Portilla were trying to kidnap Mr. Gimenez from Coral Gables and bring him to Miami PD.” The CIP is an independent watchdog group that investigates allegations of police misconduct. Reached by New Times, Gimenez declined to comment, citing his pending court case. But a filing from that case, which New Times ob- tained via a public records request, alleges that a Miami police officer entered the cell where Gimenez was being held and attempted to take him away. According to the document, filed in the form of a motion to depose witnesses, Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak had to intervene. “In most all [sic] circumstances surround- ing a simple battery[,] the case is referred to the State Attorneys [sic] Office for review or a Notice/Promise to Appear is issued,” reads Gimenez’s July 18 motion, a copy of which is attached at the end of this article. “Rarely [do] such episodes give rise to a physical arrest and incarceration. Even rarer does law enforce- ment seek to take custody of the arrestee away from the agency with jurisdiction. Here, Mr. Gimenez[,] held in custody by the Coral Gables Police Department[,] was escorted outside his holding cell and handcuffed by a Miami Police officer to be transported to the city of Miami[,] for what reason one can only speculate....” The motion seeks to question De La Porti- 66 lla’s lunch companions, stating that they were eyewitnesses to the incident but did not pro- vide in-depth statements to police (or in Paul- Noel’s case, were not interviewed at all in the initial investigation). The Incident On February 9, Diaz de la Portilla was lunching at Morton’s Steakhouse with a handful of local political figures, including lobbyist Carlos Lago (brother of Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago), former Miami Commis- sioner Humberto Hernandez, and Paul-Noel, his sergeant-at-arms. Gimenez allegedly approached Diaz de la Portilla while he was sitting at a table, called him a “pussy,” and then “struck” Díaz de la Portilla on the “side of the head with an open hand,” according to a Coral Gables Police De- partment (CGPD) arrest report. (Diaz de la Portilla later described the slap as a “cow- ardly” flick of the wrist.) City-owned closed-circuit TV cameras cap- tured parts of the incident. One clip showed Paul-Noel approaching Gimenez after the en- counter, speaking to him briefly, and then tack- ling him to the ground before Coral Gables police arrived and took him into custody. In the hours after Gimenez’s arrest, rumors swirled that the Miami Police Department (MPD) had unsuccessfully endeavored to forc- ibly extradite Gimenez to Miami, despite the fact that the entire tussle occurred in Coral Ga- bles. Former Miami Herald reporter Elaine De Valle speculated on her website, Political Cor- tadito, that there was video of the attempt. De Valle wasn’t able to track down the video, but she did obtain a text exchange be- tween MPD Chief Manuel Morales and Coral Gables Chief Hudak, wherein Hudak said he forbade Morales’ men from taking Gimenez. Morales replied that there had been a miscom- munication and Coral Gables would handle the case. As events eventually played out, Gimenez was transferred to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, a Miami-Dade County facility, and released the following day. Two days after the dustup, New Times re- quested any and all footage of Gimenez inside New details shed light on the rumor that Miami Police tried to “kidnap” CJ Gimenez. BY JOSHUA CEBALLOS Photos courtesy of Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation, City of Miami Carlos “CJ” Gimenez (left) was arrested after slapping Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla (right) at Morton’s The Steakhouse in Coral Gables. his Coral Gables cell. In acknowledging the request, the city noted that other media out- lets had submitted similar requests. In late July, having heard nothing for more than five months, New Times inquired about the status of the records request. CGPD public information officer Sgt. Ale- jandro Escobar responded that the records could not be released pending an internal af- fairs investigation by MPD into one of their officers that was related to the incident. Asked for details, Escobar said he could not elaborate or identify the officer. In a subsequent interview, CGPD public information officer Kelly Denham told New Times she had reviewed the video, which has not yet been released to the media, and con- firmed that an MPD officer attempted to transport CJ Gimenez from his cell. Denham said the video shows an MPD of- ficer entering Gimenez’s holding cell at CGPD headquarters, handcuffing him, and walking him out of the cell. The officer then received a phone call and, after a brief conversation, took Gimenez back to his cell and uncuffed him. Denham said the video does not include audio of the phone conversation and that she could not confirm the identity of the MPD officer. New Times also sought comment from CGPD regarding the allegations in Gimenez’s motion to depose witnesses but did not re- ceive a response. CIP director Cristina Beamud tells New Times that the panel will conclude its investi- gation into the complaint after MPD com- pletes its internal affairs probe. [email protected] MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 AUGUST 4-10, 2022 NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS |
