MIAMI – The trial of Rafael Otano, one of the two men who stand accused of kidnapping a man and beating him up while they were working as police officers in Hialeah, continued for the fourth day on Thursday in Miami-Dade County court.
Jose Ortega-Gutierrez continued his testimony for the third day about the police brutality he said he experienced on Dec. 17. He reported police officers responded to a bakery in Hialeah, handcuffed him, and took him to a desolated area in Miami-Dade County to beat him up.
Attorney Michael Pizzi, who is representing Otano, questioned Ortega-Gutierrez about a drug-related arrest on Jan. 17, about his alcoholism, his decision to hire an attorney to file a civil lawsuit to seek damages against the city, and about his visit to Mount Sinai Hialeah Emergency Center.
“Assaulted while drinking beer at the gas station ... was punched in the face by police personnel ... patient said he was assaulted by three officers,” Pizzi said while reading a document from the hospital.
Ortega-Gutierrez said the statement attributed to him in the hospital records was incorrect. Ortega-Gutierrez also denied having told a police officer on Sept. 10, 2021, that he was hearing voices and that is why he needed help.
Pizzi asked him if his consumption of alcohol affected “his ability to observe and recall events.” Ortega-Gutierrez denied it. He did admit that he drank six beers on Dec. 17, and sometimes in addition two bottles of vodka daily.
“I am an alcoholic and I don’t deny it,” Ortega-Gutierrez said in Spanish with the help of a court-appointed translator.
Pizzi asked him to talk about the 12 times he got into fights with men, including one time when he was knocked out, in December.
“They knocked me out on the stomach ... when one fights you are exposed to getting hit everywhere,” Ortega-Gutierrez said later adding that he was a trained boxer when he was younger in Cuba.
Ortega-Gutierrez was 50 years old when a Miami-Dade police officer reported finding him injured in a desolated area, and Ortega-Gutierrez said Hialeah police officers, including a tall blond one, were to blame.
On Wednesday, during cross-examination in court, Pizzi brought a blond mannequin head to the courtroom to confront Ortega-Gutierrez since Otano, 27, has dark brown hair.
Detectives investigated Ortega-Gutierrez’s report, and prosecutors charged Otano and Lorenzo Orfila, 22, also a Hialeah police officer, with armed kidnapping and battery.
“Nobody is above the law — including the defendant,” Assistant State Attorney Shawn Albuhoff said about Otano during his opening statement on Monday in court.
Ali Amin Saleh, a private investigator, later offered Ortega-Gutierrez money so he wouldn’t report the beating, according to prosecutors. Juan Prietocofino, a notary, was accused of fraud for notarizing an affidavit Saleh allegedly asked Ortega-Gutierrez to sign.
The detectives’ findings prompted Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr. and Hialeah Police Chief George Fuente to terminate Otano and Ofila, who surrendered to face charges on Jan. 26.
Orfila is also facing a charge of official misconduct, and Saleh, 46, is facing a charge of witness tampering. Circuit Judge Robert Watson set Orfila’s bond at $20,000 and Otano’s bond at $10,000 on Feb. 13, and ordered house arrest.
In Florida, an armed kidnapping charge is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison, or up to life on probation and up to $15,000 in fines. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Andrea R. Wolfson is presiding over Otano’s trial.
Coverage of trial
Related stories