Pictures show Miami-Dade Corrections officer accused in Kendall DUI crash asleep in county-owned car – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – Pictures taken by authorities show a Miami-Dade Corrections officer sleeping inside his county-issued car after, investigators said, he caused a crash in Kendall while driving under the influence, and that is just the beginning of his legal troubles.

The black and white pictures show Miami-Dade Civilian Corrections Chief Omar Fernandez out cold in the driver’s seat of his county-issued car on the night of July 6.

The pictures, obtained exclusively by 7News, show the 50-year-old jail official passed out and allegedly drunk, moments after he was discovered by Florida Highway Patrol troopers.

According to FHP, Fernandez plowed into an SUV occupied by a mother and her teenage son on the intersection of Kendall Drive and Mills Drive.

Along with being arrested and the placed on administrative leave, Fernandez is being sued by Janette Perez, the woman who’s vehicle he’s accused of hitting.

The lawsuit states Perez “suffered permanent losses … bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish.”

The list of damages in the suit continues. It also states Perez is seeking more than $50,000 from the alleged “slurr[ing], mumbl[ing] and incoherent” driver, who’s said to have blown “.236 G/210L and .231 G/210L” on a Breathalyzer test, nearly three times the legal limit.

Last month, the person who answered the door of Fernandez’s home told a 7News crew that he wouldn’t discuss the matter.

Zachary D. Bodenheimer with Flanagan & Bodenheimer, the law firm that filed the suit, said they’d previously asked Fernandez for his insurance information, but “he failed to respond,” so they made a claim with the county, since it owns car he was driving at the time of the crash.

The county issued a statement in response that reads in part:

“We have determined that no liability exists on the part of Miami-Dade County… We must respectfully deny this claim.”

Reacting to the county’s response, Bodenheimer wrote:

“We are extremely disappointed by the County’s decision and would expect that the County would want to make the situation right when one of its employees crashes a county-owned vehicle while impaired into a tax-paying citizen. We intend to hold all responsible parties fully accountable.”

Fernandez faces charges of DUI and DUI damage to property. His trial is pending.

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