5 December 26, 2024 - January 1, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | THE CASE OF THE NOT-NEUTERED CANINES A Miami Springs true-crime tale. BY THEO KARANTSALIS A 48-year-old Miami Springs man recently found himself in the doghouse, courtesy of the local constabulary, following a morning outing to a local dog park with his three canines. “Miami Springs police took swift action after [Jose] Isidro Hernandez, already for- mally trespassed from the city dog park, re- turned with his aggressive dogs, disturbing the peace of fellow patrons and showing a blatant disregard for park rules,” the cops publicly scolded in a November 1 Instagram post that shows Hernandez, arms akimbo, with the word ARRESTED beneath, in large red type. “We maintain a zero-tolerance pol- icy for nuisances in our community.” A police arrest report states that at 9:35 a.m. on Friday, November 1, Miami Springs’ finest were called to the city’s dog park, where they arrested Hernandez for trespassing. The report, which mentions a “fight between two dogs,” lists no victims, injuries, or witnesses. It does, however, reference an encounter four months earlier with Miami Springs police officer J. Robbins, who’d responded to the park after an anonymous parkgoer complained about Hernandez and his dogs. “I was dispatched to the listed dog park in reference to an anonymous complainant [who] called MSPD stating that there was a [white male] at the park with his three dogs that are not neutered and aggressive with other dogs at the park,” Robbins’ July 1 inci- dent report reads in part. “They also stated the male has been to the dog park on several other occasions and has caused disturbances with other dog owners after he has been told that the park rule advises that all dogs should be neutered.” Having met with the anonymous com- plainant, Robbins sniffed out Hernandez, who, the report states, “appeared agitated that the police were called on him. I then ad- vised him of what the anonymous com- plainant stated. Her- nandez stated he has had altercations with other dog owners at the park and stated that the anonymous person has called him derogatory names on other occasions; however, he never called MSPD to report the incidents.” Adds Robbins: “I then observed Hernan- dez’s dogs who were not neutered.” According to the incident report — which notes that no fewer than three fellow Miami Springs police officers assisted during the call — Hernandez was issued a trespass warning and informed that henceforth, he and his dogs were persona (and canini) non grata at the park. Neither the July trespass warning nor the November arrest report indicates the breed of Hernandez’s dogs, nor how the officers de- termined the creatures’ reproductive capabil- ities. The arrest affidavit, filed by Officer C. Baan, cites “trespassing after warning” as the grounds for arrest. Hernandez did not return multiple re- quests for comment. In a terse written statement, his defense at- torney, Joseph Chambrot, confirmed that his client had taken his three dogs — “two mutts and a Rottweiler” — to the dog park at various times. Chambrot did not return follow-up messages from New Times inquiring into the furry trio’s temperament, preferred gender pronouns, and potential for reproducing. According to the county property apprais- er’s office, the park, which abuts several small baseball fields and a children’s playground, is located off Royal Poinciana Boulevard just south of Miami Springs High School, on a small parcel of land owned by the Miami- Dade Water and Sewer Department. The county website’s Dog Parks page lays out 14 rules for dog parks, including a limit of three dogs per human and admonishments against aggressive canine behavior and bring- ing “dogs in heat or with parasites” fleas, ticks, worms, etc.). There is no requirement that dogs be spayed or neutered. But as Miami-Dade County Animal Ser- vices director Annette Jose patiently ex- plained to New Times, “Municipalities can have more restrictive codes and ordinances.” Indeed, while intact dogs are permitted to frolic freely at Miami-Dade dog parks — and, per City of Miami communications director Kenia Fallat, at dog parks within the Magic City limits — Miami Springs has a tight tether on dangling scrotums. The municipality posts signs at its one and only dog park that list no fewer than 20 “rules and regulations,” three of which are rendered in all uppercase letters, including the one that reads, “NO UNNEUTERED DOGS ARE AL- LOWED IN THE PARK.” Perhaps not coincidentally, police have been dispatched to the dog park 145 times so far this year, according to a five-page report the city provided to New Times. Most of the calls were for “area checks,” but the report in- cludes nine calls for suspicious cars and per- sons and seven for “animal incidents.” Hernandez, a longtime Miami Springs res- ident, holds the distinction as the only person to have been issued a trespass warning at the park in 2024. County records show three prior prosecutions in which adjudication was withheld: a 1999 felony prosecution for ag- gravated assault with a firearm that was re- solved via three years’ probation, a misdemeanor offense for marijuana posses- sion for which Hernandez paid a fine, and a misdemeanor battery charge in 2016 that re- sulted in three months of probation. After his arrest on the trespassing charge, he was taken to Turner Guilford Knight Cor- rectional Center, where he had to post a $500 bond before going off-leash (as it were). Court records show that he pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial. [email protected] Two canines cavort in a dog park. Photo by Don DeBold/Flickr | METRO | MIAMI SPRINGS HAS A TIGHT TETHER ON DANGLING SCROTUMS.
