MIAMI (WSVN) - A City of Miami Police officer found himself in legal trouble after, investigators said, he was arrested for driving under the influence.
According to a police report, 31-year-old Joevanih Sauvagere was discovered passed out behind the wheel of an Infiniti on the southbound off-ramp of Interstate 95, near the intersection of Northwest Sixth Avenue and 62nd Street, just before 7 a.m. on Tuesday.
The encounter leading to his arrest involved Miami-Dade Schools Police, who responded after receiving reports of a driver passed out behind the wheel.
“Miami-Dade Schools Police was flagged down in the area of Northwest Fourth Avenue and 62nd Street,” said Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales.
The police report states Sauvagere, who was found behind the wheel of a “silver Infiniti with dark tints,” was “nodding in and out” at the wheel and had “slurred speech.”
When the responding police officer asked Sauvagere to put his car in park, he put the car in reverse, which moved the car two feet, before the intoxicated Miami Police officer put it in park.
The Miami-Dade Schools officer later noticed the officer had a gun in his lap.
“They discovered the individual was holding what appeared to be a firearm,” said Morales.
As Sauvagere dozed in and out of consciousness, the officer grabbed the gun and took it out of the vehicle.
The police report states the responding officer noticed a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage from [Sauvagere’s] breath,” as well as “bloodshot, watery eyes, and his eyelids were droopy.”
Upon requesting that he perform standardized field sobriety tests, Sauvagere refused.
Once more police officers arrived, Sauvagere was taken out of the car and, due to the gun and his compromised state, the arrest report states, “the defendant was put at gunpoint.”
“I managed to disarm the subject. We got him in custody,” the arresting officer said in radio transmissions.
Sauvagere was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital by Miami Fire Rescue due to reported stomach pain. He declined to submit to a voluntary blood sample and also refused when implied consent was read to him.
On Wednesday, Sauvagere’s family refused to speak with 7News.
“Don’t record here,” a family member said to a 7News crew.
Hours after he was booked, Sauvagere bonded out of jail.
“We are not above the law,” said Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales. “Miami Police Department will hold all of its members, from me on down to the most rookie officer, to the highest of standards.”
Sauvagere, who has been with with the department since 2017, was relieved of duty with pay.
“He placed his life at risk and how he got the vehicle there, we don’t know; that investigation is still being worked on to find out how he got to that location,” said Morales, “but we can tell you that he shouldn’t have been in control of that motor vehicle, so he’s going to be held accountable for his actions.”
Morales also said that Sauvagere has faced disciplinary actions in the past.
His arrest marks the second South Florida police officer who is facing trouble with the law.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade Police Officer Daniel Ramos-Aviles was arrested and is facing multiple counts of sexual battery of a child and molestation.
The 40-year-old suspect was taken into custody by his own department.
According to his arrest warrant, Ramos-Aviles’ own daughter, stepdaughter and niece are among the alleged victims.
“If someone in his position is capable of doing this to his own 6-year-old child, what else is he capable of?” stated an attorney on a Zoom call in the courtroom.
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