By Wayne K. Roustan
Sun Sentinel
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A Miami-Dade police officer who failed a roadside sobriety test repeatedly asked a Florida Highway Patrol trooper to look the other way, the FHP said.
Officer Albert Steven Coriat, 40, was pulled over around 3 a.m. Feb. 16 in Plantation after he made an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike at mile marker 59, according to the arrest report.
Coriat identified himself as a police officer, showed his badge and identification and asked to be released because, he said, police officers needed to stick together. Coriat explained that he had made DUI traffic stops in the past and had let drivers go, the report stated.
The trooper noted Coriat smelled of alcohol and showed other signs of impairment.
The FHP patrol car’s dashboard camera showed Coriat failing three sobriety exercises and pleading to be released. The trooper is heard on video repeatedly refusing the requests.
Coriat twice refused to take a breath test. Once he was in a holding cell, Coriat vomited a red liquid that smelled like alcohol. He then lay down in the liquid and fell asleep, the FHP report said.
Coriat was taken to the Broward Main Jail and charged with DUI, records showed.
Copyright 2014 the Sun Sentinel