MIAMI BEACH, Fla.
The supervisor of one of two officers accused of partying in Miami Beach was served with dismissal Wednesday.
Police said then-Officer Rolando Gutierrez was drinking and partying at a bachelorette party at The Clevelander on July 4 weekend, though he was on duty and away from the district to which he was assigned a few miles away.
Then-Officer Derick Kuilan, who investigators said was partying with Gutierrez, took a woman joyriding on the beach at 5 a.m. July 3 on his department-issued ATV and hit two people, police said. Kuilan has been criminally charged.
Sgt. Manuel Moraga, who was Gutierrez's supervisor on that midnight shift, was either clueless or covering up, and now he has been served with a dismissal. The paperwork accuses him of gross negligence, gross inefficiency and blatant disregard.
The paperwork said that for hours that night, Moraga never checked why Gutierrez was not answering dispatch and why calls for police were stacking up, and his inattention left Miami Beach residents and his colleagues unprotected for several overnight and morning hours.
On that July 3 morning, Moraga left his post early, even as Kuilan's ATV crash had the radios buzzing for backup, authorities said.
Records show that Moraga was promoted to sergeant in April 2009, and on the same day as that ceremony, he was suspended for violating the department's conflict of interests policy. It is one of three past marks on his record.
Moraga is the last of six police supervisors on duty that night to be served the intent to discipline, and for reasons the city won't say, the only one to be fired.
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