Commissioner says insufficient evidence to charge police officer
A high ranking member of the Police Force will not stand trial for the alleged raped of a junior officer earlier this year. So says Commissioner of Police Ornel Brooks. The rape accusations were made by a female sergeant against her supervisor, Assistant Inspector of Police Eli Salazar, the officer commanding C.I.B. at Eastern Division. The complainant’s account of the incident is that Salazar had forced himself on her while they were out on assignment in July, investigating the murder of a U.S. tourist at Maya Beach. According to Brooks, it is the opinion of Director of Public Prosecutions Adolph Lucas there isn’t sufficient evidence to warrant criminal prosecution of Salazar. However, Brooks says D.P.P. Lucas has recommended internal disciplinary actions against Salazar arising out of the allegations.
Ornel Brooks, Commissioner of Police
“Late last week Friday, the file was returned to me, with the D.P.P.’s memorandum. And it was clear that the D.P.P. saw the same inconsistencies that we had originally saw in the statement and the allegations made against that officer. As a matter of fact the officer herself in the original statement stated that she knew that her allegations would not have been able to stand in a court of law, and the D.P.P. has reinforced that.”
Q: “Are we to assume then sir that because you’re considering disciplinary action, was there some kind of inappropriate behavior by Mr. Salazar?”
Ornel Brooks
“We are not talking, we’re talking about two issues here. First when it comes to the actual intercourse, that’s the matter that the D.P.P. has ruled on. I think Mr. Salazar also, he had submitted a report addressing that particular issue. But we are talking about the conduct in terms of the administration, the behavioral aspect of it, senior officers being out there, whether or not their conduct was consistent as to what is expected of a leader of a team.”
In an interview last week, Salazar told News Five that he was not guilty of any wrongdoing and that the allegations stemmed from his attempt to increase discipline in the department. Salazar is on approved leave and is expected to return to work in November.
