Story Archive

Dibsies

Clausel Pierre pulled into a parking space at a shoe store in Deerfield Beach, Fla. Another man approached him to say that was his parking spot, but Pierre refused to move. The other man was Frank Maio, a detective with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office — who moonlighted as a security guard at the shoe store. Pierre says Maio arrested him for getting the spot first. “The spot was open to the public,” says Pierre’s attorney, Christopher Brown. “It’s a typical thing: two people see a spot; two people go for it. But in this case, one of those people was a police officer with the power to arrest.” Pierre was so shocked at Maio’s action he called 911, which he says upset Maio so much he beat on him hard enough to break bones. The supposed charge to justify the arrest: battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence. A judge threw out the charges due to “conflicting statements” by the officer, and Pierre is suing the department for wrongful arrest. (RC/Broward-Palm Beach New Times) ...In other words, the actual charge was Contempt of Cop.