POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – An Aventura police officer’s girlfriend, working as a valet attendant, accidentally left her cellphone in a customer’s car — and amid confusion over when it would be returned, the officer took it upon himself to cross county lines and illegally detain two men at gunpoint in order to get the phone back, according to newly-obtained arrest documents.
Broward County deputies arrested Officer David Esteban Delgado on Wednesday and released a full probable cause affidavit Friday, providing a fuller picture of the allegations lodged against the 30-year-old lawman.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Officer David Delgado’s girlfriend, Daniela Rendon, who works as a valet attendant at the Aventura Mall, accidentally left her cellphone in the victims’ car on May 20 after they had shopped at the mall.
They told investigators they communicated with Rendon that they would return the phone after performing at a festival at Bayfront Park later that day.
According to the affidavit, they told BSO investigators that there was confusion about where to meet Rendon, so they decided to meet to return the phone the following day.
It’s just as they arrived at their Pompano Beach home, they said, that Rendon’s Find My iPhone app started alerting and they were confronted by a marked Aventura Police cruiser and Delgado, in full uniform, holding them at gunpoint yelling, “Put your f---ing hands behind your back before I shoot.”
While one of the victims was in cuffs, they said Delgado retrieved the phone, saying, “Oh shut the f--- up. Shut the f--- up. You don’t know who(se) phone you got in your hands. Shut the f--- up, and I’m trying to save your life.”
Delgado is also accused of slamming one of the men into his cruiser, injuring his knee. Authorities said the victims recorded video of the incident.
The men reported the incident to the Aventura Police Department three days later.
One of Delgado’s APD supervisors told BSO investigators that Delgado had no authorization or authority to leave the county to conduct enforcement.
Delgado was suspended from APD without pay following his arrest. He was charged with two counts each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, engaging in a criminal offense with a weapon, as well as one count of battery.
Covered in a face mask and baseball cap and wearing a hoodie, Delgado bonded out of the Broward County Jail on Friday and had nothing to say to local media as he jumped inside of a waiting SUV with Rendon, who came to pick him up.