OPA-LOCKA, Fla. – A troubled Opa-locka police officer has been arrested for the second time in 2022, a spokesperson with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Tuesday.
Sgt. Sergio Perez, 35, was arrested on a battery charge in January after authorities accused him, then a captain with the department, of using a Taser on a fellow officer following an argument.
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Tuesday’s arrest for first-degree misdemeanor battery stems from allegations of excessive force stemming from an incident in Sept. 2020.
Nineteen-year-old Jafet Castro-Reyes was dragged feet first from an apartment despite not being suspected of crime and Perez, then a lieutenant, was seen on video doing it.
“Agents found that (Perez) intentionally struck the victim multiple times in the head, despite the protests of another law enforcement officer on scene,” FDLE spokesperson Jeremy Burns said. “He then dragged the victim from his residence by his feet, which resulted in the victim striking his head on the concrete steps.”
The FDLE’s investigation into Perez began in June 2022, when newly-appointed OLPD Chief Scott Israel, the former Broward County sheriff, asked the agency to review the allegation, Burns said.
Perez has a checkered history in local law enforcement.
Perez, then a corporal, was fired by OLPD for his actions in 2013 involving a catastrophic wrong way crash on Interstate 95 that killed four people.
The department determined he violated procedures by pursuing a suspect the wrong way on the highway before the crash. But he got his job back.
Perez was also fired from Miami Shores police in 2006 following an arrest for drag racing.
During his time in Opa-locka, he also faced multiple complaints of official misconduct.