A fired Orlando police officer who recovered a stolen car lied in his report after it was stolen again while he was responding to a shooting call, an internal affairs report released this week says.
Former Officer Robert Afonso was fired in December.
He was fighting the firing through the grievance process but decided last month not to appeal the firing, records show.
Afonso, who had been with the department since 2014, was called out around 6 p.m. June 18 to the 400 block of Sunset Drive. The car back came back stolen so he called a tow truck to take it away.
While he was awaiting the wrecker, a shooting call a block away came over the radio.
Afonso went to the call, but quickly realized nothing happened. Police believe it was apparently a fake call to get him away from the vehicle.
When Afonso returned, the car was already gone — but that's not what Afonso wrote in his report, the internal affairs investigation concluded.
Afonso wrote in the report that he was pulling out of the driveway in front of the car, when someone jumped in and took off.
The tow truck driver said he did not see that happen and that Afonso asked him where the car was.
Afonso later admitted to Internal Affairs that his report was wrong.
Afonso, who declined comment through his lawyer, wrote in a letter that he saw the car drive by him when he was going down the street.
He felt it was retaliation for complaining about his supervisor for treating him unfairly.
He also wrote the investigation was "based on a lie."
"I am deeply disappointed in how this has proceeded when a simple conversation was all that was needed to avoid the entire investigation," he wrote. "It was clear to me throughout the process that no matter what I had to say, I was the bad guy and the outcome was decided."
dharris@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5471 or @DavidHarrisOS[1]
References
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