Javier Ortiz, a Miami Police Department captain with a history of reportedly abusing his power and discriminating against Black people — although he has mockingly claimed in the past to be Black himself — has been suspended with pay pending an internal investigation in the same week as a lawsuit was filed against him by a fellow cop who claims Ortiz made the man’s job “a living hell.”
A spokesperson for the department revealed the news to the Miami Herald on Thursday, Oct. 22. While details surrounding the investigation are scant, Ortiz has been relieved of his duties as captain in the traffic enforcement unit.
This comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by Sgt. Edwin Gomez on Monday, Oct. 18, a copy of which was later obtained by The Daily Beast. Gomez claims in his suit that his troubles began soon after he participated in a racial discrimination investigation of Ortiz in January 2020.
Gomez, a 23-year veteran on the force, testified that Ortiz routinely committed “outrageous acts of despicable discrimination” against Black citizens, women, and other minority groups, legal documents showed.
In addition, the lawsuit claimed soon after Gomez’s testimony Ortiz would often refer to him as a “coward” in front of other colleagues. Gomez stated that eventually his department turned its back on him as well, calling the organization’s actions and that of the city of Miami, “illegal retaliation.”
The officer’s other allegations included being denied overtime hours and passed over for promotions. He said he was suspended for reasons unbeknownst to him, among other charges.
Over the years, Ortiz, who has been in the law enforcement field for nearly two decades, has become seemingly synonymous with dodging disciplinary actions for his reported frequent display of “abuse and bias against minorities, particularly African-Americans.”
Gomez’s statements were a part of a 50-page report issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and later passed on to the FBI for further investigation, which reviewed suits and other complaints made against the disgraced officer. The report included interviews from witnesses, and other officers.
In an effort to downplay accusations of racism, Ortiz once claimed that he was Black and not of Hispanic descent because of the Jim Crow era “one-drop rule” that deemed anyone with even one Black ancestor was considered to be Black.
The Washington Post reported that the former union boss’s comments — one of many offenses — about his racial identity were brought to light after he faced backlash for allegedly mocking the department’s diversity efforts by checking a box meant for black employees on his promotion application.
However, after having not found evidence to support the slew of complaints made against Ortiz, the case was subsequently dropped and he avoided charges with any crimes in connection to the probe. Before his latest suspension Ortiz had just been reinstated in February 2021 following a yearlong suspension.
