TAMPA, Fla. – Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III, who serves Miami-Dade County as chief of safety and emergency response overseeing both the police and fire rescue departments, remained hospitalized on Thursday in Tampa.
Ramirez, 52, was injured on July 23 in Hillsborough County. The Tampa Police Department and the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office released records on the two incidents that Sunday at a hotel and on the highway.
HSO 911 dispatch audio, and TPD body cam videos and incident reports revealed details about what Ramirez and his wife, Jody Ramirez, experienced while away from home for the Florida Sheriff’s Association conference.
“I detained the subject via applying handcuffs to the rear,” Officer Maurece Parrish wrote in his report about Ramirez’s detention at the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street hotel’s 12th floor.
At about 6:30 p.m., police officers surprised the couple in the hallway outside of room 1271. They heard them arguing and ordered them at gunpoint to walk out with their hands up, records show.
“I didn’t do anything; I don’t understand ... We were just talking, that’s it, just talking. I didn’t touch her, you can ask her, I didn’t do anything ... We had a discussion ... Nothing, just talking about marriage stuff,” Ramirez told the police officers.
Ramirez told the police officers during a short interrogation that he was not suffering from suicidal or homicidal ideations, according to the body cam video TPD released on Wednesday. The officers let the couple go.
After about 9:15 p.m., Florida Highway Patrol troopers, Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office deputies, and fire rescue personnel responded to Jody Ramirez’s 911 call.
Ramirez’s distraught wife pleaded for help while along the southbound lanes of Interstate 75, near mile marker 244, and close to Paseo Al Mar Boulevard and the Lake Saint Claire community.
During news conferences after the shooting, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass said “Freddy” Ramirez had suffered a head injury and his condition was stable.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said “Freddy” Ramirez had called her after his detention in Tampa to report that “he had made a mistake” and ”was prepared” to resign.
Levine Cava’s predecessor appointed him to succeed Juan J. Perez on Jan. 13, 2020. Last year, Levine Cava announced his new expanded role as the chief of safety and emergency response. In May, the 27-year MDPD veteran announced that he was running for sheriff in 2024.
After the shooting, Miami-Dade County placed him on “a sick injured leave” because of a “critical injury” and Levine Cava appointed Stephanie V. Daniels, a deputy director, as MDPD interim director on July 24.
“Our police director continues to recuperate. He is making progress, and we are all praying and supporting him and his family, as they continue the process of recovery,” Levine Cava told Local 10 News on Wednesday.
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Related records
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