The officer was being honored for catching a murderer. A criminal city commissioner decided to interrupt the ceremony to attack the officer. Now that “leader” is in hot water with the mayor, the city, the media, the PBA, and just about everyone else.
The Broward County Police Benevolent Association has officially pulled their endorsement of a city commissioner after he interrupted an award ceremony to take out a personal vendetta against an officer who had arrested him four years ago. The mayor has also weighed in with disgust (statement below).
The PBA published a photo to Instagram officially pulling their support for Commissioner Mike Gelin on Thursday after he publicly chastised the officer.
“As a public official, Commissioner Gelin’s behavior towards a Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputy is unacceptable,” their statement read.
So what actually went down to cause such an uproar?
Here we go…
The target of my wrath: Tamarac, Florida City Commissioner Elberg Mike Gelin.
Why Gelin? Because he stood in the City Commission chambers yesterday, in his official capacity as a City Commissioner, and issued a statement of personal bias towards a Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy. It was all based off a 4-year old grudge, stemming from an arrest the deputy made in July of 2015.
The individual he arrested was…wait for it, Gelin.
Now an elected official, this man had the audacity to publicly berate the officer for doing his job. Not only did he deliver this statement around this idiotic vendetta, he singled the officer out and called him forward in front of the monthly Regular City Commission Meeting.
Video of the event has been provided (it starts at about 12:45 into the video, which can be seen here), but here is how it went down.
After the call to order, roll call and Pledge of Allegiance, Mayor Michelle Gomez and the Commissioners made their way in front of the dais to meet and recognize the Deputies of the Month for January through June of 2019. Deputy Joshua Gallardo was awarded the Deputy of the Month citation for April of this year.
As part of the citation, it was noted that Gallardo was involved in a case unlike any the Lieutenant presenting the awards had ever seen.
While conducting a routine traffic stop, Gallardo was informed that the driver had a warrant, which is not that uncommon. This warrant was issued by Interpol. The driver was wanted for murder in another country. While a fight ensued, the deputy was able to take the man into custody.
As the audience and the rest of the Commission applauded, Gelin stood with his hands folded in front of him, and a smug, arrogant look of contempt on his face. It is worth noting, Gelin applauded all the other recipients.
After a group photo was taken, Gelin – who had a previously failed run as mayor – grabbed the mic.
Watching him summon up the courage to pick up that microphone and puff out his chest in a moment of “I am a Commissioner, so I can get away with this” only exemplifies that the most courageous thing he has ever done in life is publicly talking smack to a man who puts his life on the line every day.
“Í would like to make a comment. I want to congratulate all of the BSO officers who have done such a great job,” he said.
Pausing to shake hands, another Commissioner can be heard saying:
“Do it while you can.”
The mayor and Gelin have a brief, inaudible exchange, then he continues publicly.
“Joshua Gallardo, could you come down for a second,” requested the Commissioner.
As the deputy makes his way up front, Gelin continues.
“It’s good to see you again. You probably do not remember me, but you are the officer who falsely arrested me four years ago,” he said.
At this point in the video, Mayor Gomez appears to be visibly upset by what is taking place.
Gelin continued:
“You lied on the police report. I believe that you are a rogue police officer, a bad police officer, and you do not deserve to be here.”
An exasperated Gomez reclaims the microphone and reiterates just how much the BSO means to the community and how appreciative she is for what they do.
“We appreciate what you do. Please take that away from here today,” the mayor stated.
While the rest of the Commissioners remained on the floor for the next proclamation and presentation, Gelin walked away and returned to his seat on the dais.
Apparently, he knew there was no opportunity to grandstand during the next award presentation, so he was done. Mission complete.
The city mayor sent in a statement of disgust to Law Enforcement Today on Thursday evening:
I speak for the City of Tamarac when I say that we have the utmost respect for BSO and the Deputies who put their lives on the line each day to safeguard our community.
While our BSO Tamarac District has been honoring Deputies each month for a while, Wednesday’s event was the first time we’ve taken the opportunity publicly commend those Deputies at our City Commission meeting. This was supposed to be a time to acknowledge the Sergeants and Deputies who have gone over and above in their efforts.
I feel the personal comments made after the awards were presented were highly inappropriate. This was neither the time nor the forum to air personal grievances. I believe this clearly violated the City’s civility code.
This is NOT the way we treat employees or people who work for our City. There are proper channels to follow, but the Commissioner chose not to use them.
As for the question most asked by people as to what actions will be taken – I’ve been in communication with our City Attorney about what actions can be taken and the proper procedure(s) for doing so. I understand people are upset and would like a more concrete answer than that now, but we’re just not there yet.
Shortly after the incident, Sheriff Tony came to City Hall. In my meeting with the Sheriff, I reaffirmed our commitment to Tamarac BSO. I truly appreciate Deputy Gallardo’s professional way in handling the situation and thank BSO for their ongoing efforts to help Tamarac maintain its low crime rate.
To all of your subscribers, please know the negative comments of one do not reflect the majority. I have received numerous emails of support for our First Responders so please take that to heart.
Best regards,
Michelle
After the initial article dropped this morning, a lot of people were pretty angry. They started messaging Gelin through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. After all… he wanted his voice to be heard, right?
Law Enforcement Today has received countless reports from people saying that his immediate response to them… was to block them on social media. It’s easy to be tough when holding a microphone, eh?
So, what did Gallardo do to Gelin that was so egregious?
I am glad you asked. I did a little research and found the probable cause affidavit. He arrested Gelin for Resisting an Officer and Obstruction without Violence, in violation of Statute 843.02. Here is Gallardo’s sworn statement.
On 07/16/2015 at approximately 1430 hours I responded to the listed location in regards to a victim on the ground bleeding from his ears.
On arrival I made contact with a victim of battery in front of 7707 W. Commercial Blvd. Salvation Army lying on the ground and bleeding from both ears and the back of his skull. I was in my BSO Deputy uniform and observed a black male wearing a blue shirt, blue shorts approach me from behind (later identified as Elberg M. Gelin) while attending to a victim of battery. I advised the black male to move back, that this is a crime scene.
He advised he was recording the incident and that he did not have to move. I advised that he could continue to record but he would have to move back behind the bushes to the east side to provide space for when rescue comes. He failed to comply with my commands to move from the area. I repeatedly requested that he leave the area and not continue to approach me from behind.
I then reproached the suspect and advised him that he was under arrest. While attempting to handcuff the subject he pulled his hands away from me and put his phone in his pocket. He was placed into custody for resisting w/o violence and transported to BSO Main jail.
Notice in the sworn statement he says Gelin approached him from behind. Interesting. This could have gone very different, but the officer instead advised him to step back.
There are a couple of things I would like to point out.
Move #1. Gelin was video recording a man bleeding from both ears and the back of his head. He isn’t rendering aid. He is shooting video with his cell phone. This says a lot about the type of person Gelin is.
Move #2. He refuses to comply with the officer’s commands. He absolutely has the right to continue recording, but he does not have the right to be walking around an active crime scene, potentially contaminating evidence.
Move #3. He pulled away from the officer trying to place handcuffs on him.
Move #4. Gelin asserted publicly that Gallardo ‘falsely’ arrested him and that his both a rogue and bad cop.
Hey Mike…can I call you Mike? You were not falsely arrested. You failed to comply with a lawful order and then resisted when being taken into custody.
The fact that you acted like a spoiled child does not equate to Deputy Gallardo being anything less than professional. Your arrest was textbook.
It is at this point that I am reminded of a line from one of my favorite movies, Liar Liar. You want to avoid being arrested? To quote Jim Carey’s character Fletcher Reede, “Stop breaking the law, asshole!”
So, why would the Commissioner be so hellbent on making this accusation of false arrest? The DA refused to take the case.
Let me summarize that for you, Commissioner Gelin. You were not falsely arrested. It simply means the DA didn’t want to go to court. It means the charges were dropped. It doesn’t mean you were innocent.
In doing the research into this event, I came across numerous other infractions for the Commissioner, all of which were traffic related.
He has been cited for speeding.
Improper/unsafe U-turn.
Disobeying a lane control device.
Expired tags.
Failure to provide proof of insurance.
Red light violations.
Unsafe driving.
He currently has two open cases for violations.
One is more than a decade old.
Most people would have been slapped with major fines by this point and most likely wouldn’t even have a license anymore.
I reached out to Mayor Gomez for a statement. An email and a Facebook message have not yet been answered. It will be interesting to see what the official stance is on a member of the City Commission using that platform to address a personal issue, and to publicly defame a member of the local law enforcement community. Lest we forget, Gelin called Gallardo a liar and a rogue cop.
We spoke with retired NYPD Detective Rob O’Donnell, who currently serves as the Media Director for Brothers Before Others. I asked him his thoughts on Gelin’s comments and the platform with which he chose to convey them.
“Using his professional position and platform to demean an Officer who was just awarded a city officer of the month award, still in hand I may add, for arresting a Interpol murder suspect is the epitome of abuse of authority,” O’Donnell said. “This was nothing more than a personal vendetta and attack under the guise of public office and should be denounced by every level of government. The professionalism of this officer highlights what our nation’s officers go through day in and day out with the onslaught of false narrative attacks perpetuated by unethical leaders such as Commissioner Mike Gelin.”
Brothers Before Others was so disgusted by the attack on this officer that they decided to make up for it.
This November, they are hosting Night to Unit IV – The Brotherhood & Benevolence Ball. They’re offering to fly the officer and his family to the event in New Jersey, covering their airfare and hotel.
Michael Burke and Daniel Del Valle are extending the offer so that on behalf of police officers across America and Brothers Before Others, a proper tribute can be paid to this warrior.
For the record, Gelin is relatively active on Twitter. He seems to endorse mandatory buybacks of semi-automatic rifles as laid out by Beto O’Rourke as well as the ability for convicted felons to vote.
He also seems to agree with the false narrative that Kavanaugh has ruined the credibility of the Supreme Court, Barr has ruined the credibility of the Attorney General and Trump has destroyed the credibility of the office of President of the United States.
Mike, Mike, Mike. Do you really want to pull at that thread? Credibility of office? After the childish stunt you pulled yesterday, you really do not have a leg to stand on when it comes to brining credibility to the office you hold.
I am issuing a challenge to the other members of the Tamarac City Commission. Publicly admonish Commissioner Gelin. Put him on notice that his antics will not be tolerated.
I am issuing an even bigger challenge to the voting members of Tamarac Precinct 2. When Gelin is up for re-election, send him a message. Let him know that disrespect and attempts to publicly humiliate a member of your own law enforcement community is completely and utterly unacceptable.
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