HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – An off-duty Miami-Dade police officer was arrested in Hollywood early Sunday morning after police said he was drunk behind the wheel of a marked cruiser.
Officer Leopold Louis, 42, on the force since 2017, is now suspended with pay, according to his employer.
According to an arrest report obtained by Local 10 News, Louis was involved in a hit-and-run crash at North 20th Avenue and Polk Street and officers later located him driving his patrol car on Federal Highway.
In the report, Hollywood police Officer Carlos Diaz wrote that Louis smelled of alcohol, had watery, bloodshot eyes and was unable to maintain his balance.
Louis said he did not realize he had been involved in a crash, Diaz wrote.
“(Louis) continued to state his friend in the marked unit was waiting on him,” Diaz wrote. “The marked unit in the area was his.”
Louis failed a battery of field sobriety tests and was taken into custody according to the report. He later consented to a breathalyzer test and had a blood-alcohol content of .223%, nearly three times the legal limit, it states.
He faces charges of first-offense drunken driving, DUI with property damage and leaving the scene of a crash with an unattended vehicle or property.
“This officer placed the public in danger in the same vehicle that the community has entrusted as a symbol of protection,” MDPD Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez said in a statement to Local 10 News. “I will not tolerate any representative of the Miami-Dade Police Department to jeopardize the community’s trust. We will allow the Hollywood Police Department to conduct their investigation with complete transparency and have complete faith in the judicial process.”
Louis was being held in the Broward Main Jail.
He had nothing to say to Local 10 News after he bonded out Monday afternoon.