'Florida's Worst Cop' Is Back on the Job…Again
Three arrests and six firings are not enough to keep Sgt. German Bosque from police work.
"Florida's Worst Cop" is back on the job again. The infamous Opa-locka police sergeant German Bosque has graced Reason headlines for at least six years now: As we've reported, he's been arrested three times and fired six times over the course of 20 years for "stealing drugs, possessing counterfeit cash, brutalizing suspects and bystanders, lying, insubordination, sexual assault," and more. Now a magistrate has ruled that he can return to work on the Opa-locka police force.
The decision came after a jury acquitted Bosque of a battery charge. In 2011, a youth counselor testified that Bosque punched him while trying to take a baby out of his hands during a domestic-dispute call. After the youth counselor filed a complaint, Bosque reportedly reacted physically, pushing him up against the wall and arresting him. Prosecutors said Bosque acted without "probable cause," and he himself was arrested on battery, witness tampering, and false imprisonment. Though acquitted of the battery charge, Bosque was still convicted on the other two counts, both felonies. A Miami-Dade judge eventually dismissed the false imprisonment charge.
Even when he's off the clock, Bosque is a burden on the taxpayers. In 2012, it came out that he was collecting $60,000 a year essentially to sit at home and do nothing, thanks to back pay following his numerous reinstatements.
Bosque has claimed that his bad reputation is the result of a media conspiracy to get rid of him. But he apparently needn't worry about ever losing his job. As he once told a teenager: "I am the law. If I feel like it right now, I can fuck you up, and no one will say anything about it."