Latino Police Officer suing Dade County loses out as judge dismisses bias claim

• Perez was struck by another officer's car and believed he was hit intentionally.

A federal judge has dismissed a Miami-Dade police officer's lawsuit claiming he was intentionally run down by a racist colleague while chasing burglary suspects nearly 10 years ago. After more than seven years of litigation that included a $5 million jury award and two appeals, U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King said this month that Michael Perez did not show enough evidence that the police department condoned the use of excessive force by its officers, or that Perez was the target of retaliation from other officers. In his suit against the county, Perez said a reckless culture among police officers led to the March 1995 accident in which he was hit by a patrol car driven by former Miami-Dade Sgt. William Alsbury. Perez suffered injuries to his ankle, knee and back, his lawyers said. Perez argued that Alsbury hit him intentionally -- confusing Perez, who is white, with a black suspect. In a deposition, Alsbury admitted having a prejudice against blacks, but he said he hit Perez accidentally when his vehicle slid on wet grass. King said Perez could not prove that the county failed to adequately train and direct its officers, or that officers routinely used their cars as weapons -- the standard required for the suit to go forward. King also said he could not assume it was likely that Alsbury would try deliberately to injure black suspects -- as Perez's lawyers argued -- even if Alsbury's supervisors knew about his racist leanings. [more]