The brotherhood of the badge could not keep an off-duty Miami-Dade Police officer out of the back of a trooper’s patrol car, despite the officer’s repeated pleas, according to dashcam videos released by the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Florida Highway Patrol arrested Albert Coriat, a member of the Miami-Dade Police Department since 2002, for DUI on the Florida Turnpike near Plantation last month.
“I thought we were all brothers,” a handcuffed Coriat told the trooper arresting him.
The video shows Coriat doing all he can to avoid going to jail for DUI…
“I would tell someone to come pick me up. Why the (expletive) do you have to (unintelligible).Do you know what you’re doing to me? Do you know what you’re doing to me?” Coriat asks the trooper.
Around 3 am on February 16, a trooper pulled Coriat over for attempting to make an illegal u-turn. Troopers say Coriat made it known right away that he was a cop, flashing his badge and denying that he was drunk.
TROOPER: “How much have you had to drink tonight?”
CORIAT: “Two beers.”
TROOPER: “Two beers?”
CORIAT: “Yes.”
TROOPER: “I smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from your breath.”
Seconds later, Coriat again tries to convince the troopers that he should be let go.
CORIAT: “I’m not drunk, man. I was…”
TROOPER: “You can barely even talk. Your speech is so slurred.”
The video shows Coriat performing a roadside sobriety test. Troopers say he failed — tipping over during a standing exercise and stumbling during a walking test. When the cuffs came out, the dashcam video shows Coriat begging to be given a break because he’s a cop.
CORIAT: “I’m a cop, just like you guys.”
TROOPER: “I understand that. But you’re doing something that’s illegal.”
CORIAT: “No, I’m not.” (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
CORIAT: “It’s not gonna be good for you. Listen to me…”
TROOPER: “What’s not gonna be good for me?”
Minutes later Coriat asks to speak with an FHP supervisor then mentions an FHP higher-up who is a friend or acquaintance. Finally, the trooper making the arrest sets Coriat straight.
“Turn around,” the trooper says. “I’m not going to keep explaining. You say you’re a cop. Are you saying you’re a police officer? Then you understand how the job is. Turn around, face the vehicle. Would you like to be treated this way if it was somebody that you’re arresting. No, right? So, please. Have some respect.”
The FHP report says Coriat told troopers that “he has stopped and let people go in the past that were driving under the influence.”
FHP says Coriat refused to submit to a breath test and that once he was at a secure facility he became ill and wound up sleeping in his own vomit.
CBS 4 News tried to reach Coriat for comment but someone who answered a phone number for him hung up on us. Miami Dade PD told us that Coriat is relieved of duty with pay. Miami-Dade would not comment on the arrest or comment on Coriat’s claim that he let people go who he suspected of driving drunk.
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