David Delgado tore across town wearing his uniform and driving his patrol car to roust two men who had found his wife's cellphone, prosecutors said.
A Florida police was officer was convicted of four felonies Tuesday, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, after rousting two men at gunpoint who had found his wife's cellphone.
A jury ruled David Delgado, 33, was guilty on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of false imprisonment stemming from a May incident in which Delgado, wearing his uniform, held two men at gunpoint, handcuffed one and slammed him into a patrol car, prosceutors said.
The encounter started with Delgado's wife losing her cellphone, authorities said.
In a statement, the Broward County State Attorney’s Office said Delgado “took the law into his own hands” after his wife, Daniela Rendon, accidentally left her cellphone in the men's car on May 20, while she was working as a valet at the Aventura Mall.
She had parked the men's car while they went shopping, authorities said.
The men, who are musicians, had contacted the woman, saying they had found her phone, and arranged to return it to her, authorities said. But the meeting fell through because of miscommunication, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, Delgado had tracked his wife's phone to a location in Pompano Beach, investigators said. Believing his wife's phone had been stolen, Delgado drove his police cruiser, wearing his uniform, at a "high rate of speed" and confronted the two men with his gun drawn, prosecutors said.
One of the men, Kenley LaFalaise, testified Delgado kept shouting as the men tried to explain what had happened.
“‘Shut the f*** up.’ That’s what he said. 'Shut the f**k up, shut the f**k up before I shoot you.’ That’s what he said to me,” LaFalaise testified.
Delgado eventually left with his wife's phone, the men said. They later filed an excessive force complaint against him with the department.The officer was arrested in June following an internal affairs investigation, authorities said.
He has been suspended without pay since then.
“Our job is to pursue justice and hold offenders accountable whether they wear a badge or not,” Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said in his department's statement Tuesday. “Nobody is above the law.”
Delgado's attorney said he may appeal his client's conviction. A sentencing hearing is expected to be held early next year, authorities said.
“We expect to file a timely motion for a new trial because of prejudicial errors made during the trial and an eventual appeal, if necessary,” said defense lawyer Johnny McCray, WPLG-TV reported.
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