Fort Lauderdale Officer Faces Possible Suspension After He

Punched Security Guard While Drunk and Holding Baby

 

November 30, 2016

 

Fort Lauderdale police officer, David Knapp, is facing suspension after officials say he was intoxicated and started a fight with a hotel security guard while holding his infant child last month on October 20th.

 

Citing an internal police investigation, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Monday that Officer David Knapp  was off duty and "extremely intoxicated'' when he wound up in a restricted portion of the Ritz-Carlton hotel's parking garage with his infant child in October.

 

Investigators said Knapp refused to answer security guard Fernando Ramirez's questions and then struck him twice in the face while still holding the child.

 

Investigators said Knapp is facing a 20-day suspension without pay for actions unbecoming a police officer. Ramirez declined to press charges against Knapp.

 

Knapp told investigators he had no recollection of the incident.

 

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel ;

 

According to an internal police investigation, Knapp was stumbling around the parking garage after a day at the beach with his wife and child. The couple shared a bottle of champagne at Coconuts Restaurant in the afternoon, shopped at Beach Place and then stopped off at the Ritz-Carlton bar, where Knapp had three Johnnie Walker Black Label drinks.

 

Knapp took his child with him to the bathroom and wound up in a restricted portion of the hotel's parking garage.

 

A valet spotted him about 9 p.m. and notified security.

 

Knapp refused to answer loss prevention officer Fernando Ramirez's questions, flipped him the bird and then struck him twice in the face — all while holding his child — when Ramirez continued to request identification from Knapp, investigators said.

 

"When Officer Knapp struck Mr. Ramirez a second time, Ramirez grabbed the child from Officer Knapp's arms, to prevent the child from falling, and took Officer Knapp to the ground,"

 

Major Karen Dietrich said in the Internal Affairs report.

 

"During the physical altercation, Officer Knapp's off-duty weapon flew out of his holster and landed on the ground," Dietrich said.

 

It wasn't until Knapp had been subdued, and Ramirez checked for identification, that he discovered Knapp was a police officer.

 

Ramirez declined to press battery charges against Knapp and prosecutors decided not to press the case because:

 

Are You Ready for This?

 

They said the evidence showed Knapp was too drunk for them to prove he intentionally struck Ramirez.

 

Are you kidding me?

 

Anyone out there in Broward County who has ever been charged with a misdemeanor, touch or strike battery, and for that matter you were probably intoxicated, knows this is a lot of bull.

 

Yes, we know the statute actually states “intentional touch or strike”, but since when can you use alcohol, or drugs, to claim a defense for committing a crime?

 

This is just another example of the Judicial

Corruption in the Broward County Courts.

 

Any of us would have been would have surely been prosecuted, if for nothing else, to take your money and send you to half a dozen “programs” all their friends benefit and profit from.

 

The judicial corruption in the form of a State Attorney, Michael J. Satz,

Broward’s prosecutor for the last 40 years, who’s record, is well known for his reluctance to file any criminal charges against members of the law enforcement community.

 

We don’t know this officer, he’s been on the force since 2007, and has no complaints we are aware of. This means he is probably a good police officer.

 

But the serious lack of judgement shown by him, to do this with his very own child in his arms, leaves you wondering what he may do in a more stressful situation.

 

His department should maybe have him get some sort of evaluation for the safety of the public and his own, rather just suspending him.

 

We’re not trying to demean the officer in any way. Being a law enforcement officer is a very stressful job, especially now days.

 

Not only do they have to worry about the bad-guys shooting them, they now have to worry about the radicals and nut-jobs killing them.

 

Even the toughest of them can get eaten up by that kind of stress.

 

Administrator

South Florida Corruption.com