OPA-LOCKA, Fla. – Opa-locka officials moved to once again fire a police sergeant with a troubled past, the city announced Tuesday.
Sgt. Sergio Perez was arrested on a battery charge in January 2022 after authorities accused him, then a captain with the department, of using a Taser on a fellow officer following an argument on Sept. 1, 2021. He would later be demoted to sergeant and arrested again later that year over allegations of excessive force; he would later be acquitted.
Charges in the Taser case were dropped in January, but a city news release states that an internal investigation found Perez committed “multiple policy violations” in connection with the incident.
Officials said Opa-locka Police Department Chief Kenneth Ottley recommended Perez’s termination, which City Manager Darvin Williams accepted on Monday.
It’s not the first time the department has let him go.
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.
Officials said the city and its police department “are committed to upholding the highest standards of police conduct.”
City leaders held a news conference on Wednesday morning.
Watch news conference:
Internal affairs report: