ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Body camera video shows one of Florida Highway Patrol’s own on the other side of the law. Orlando Police officers placed Trooper Wilfredo Febo in handcuffs and arrested him for driving under the influence. Febo was off-duty at the time.
Florida Highway Patrol says an internal investigation into Febo is ongoing even though the trooper’s charges were suddenly dropped last year.
Body camera video shows officers trying to explain to Febo that he caused a crash on Colonial Drive.
“I have no idea how I ended up at fault in the crash. I’m sorry. I have no idea how I end up at fault in the crash,”Febo said.
“Well, I’m telling you, you rear ended a vehicle in traffic,” an officer said.
“How?,” Febo asked.
“How? You drove your truck into the back of theirs. That’s how,” the officer replied.
When officers began their criminal investigation, Febo told officers he would not cooperate.
“I refuse everything,” Febo said.
“You’re refusing everything?” an officer asked.
“Yes,” Febo replied.
“Stand up,” an officer said while placing Febo in handcuffs.
“What? I’m not doing anything wrong,” Febo said.
It was only after Febo was placed in handcuffs that he told OPD officers he worked for FHP as a trooper. Personnel records show Febo was on the other side of these DUI investigations for years. At one time, he was the highest number of DUI arrests in his troop in 2004.
He’s worked with the agency for more than 20 years.
“We were making a bunch of DUI arrest together, backed him up bunch times,” said former Trooper Jeff Lotter who now is a DUI defense attorney who worked alongside Febo in Orlando.
“So it’s safe to say he has made hundreds of DUI arrest,” investigative reporter Ashlyn Webb asked.
“I would say it’s safe to say definitely hundreds of investigations, hundreds and hundreds of investigations. And I would say it’s probably a few hundred DUI arrest under his belt,” Lotter replied.
Lotter says troopers are trained to get as much evidence on scene when conducting a DUI investigation, and that evidence includes drivers going through field sobriety exercises.
“So he knew what he was doing when answering,” Webb asked.
“For sure,” Lotter replied.
Arrest records show an officer noted Febo was “slow to react” and “speech was slurred.”
Another officer reported Febo had a “lack of balance and bloodshot eyes.” The same officer said “I could smell the distinct odor of alcohol fumes emitting from his breath.”
Officers even found receipts of drinks ordered that night in Febo’s pocket.
But, this wasn’t enough to convince an Orange County Judge that officers had “probable cause” to arrest Febo for impaired driving.
Prosecutor notes reveal the judge excluded nearly all evidence after two OPD officers gave testimony the judge deemed was not “credible”.
Judge Amy Carter said the officer did not have enough to arrest Trooper Febo, that the officers never really questioned him, or conducted a real investigation.
“He just they said, stand up, you’re under arrest. Which, you know, well, that’s not enough for DUI. You have to have actually done a thorough investigation. Someone says I refuse without more is not enough to arrest somebody,” said attorney Richard Hornsby.
He says it’s rare to see a judge make these statements but says there’s a reason why.
“You had one officer who conducted the crash investigation, and he appears to be the person that would have smell the alcohol. But then you had another person that conducted the criminal investigation,” Hornsby said. “The person that’s ultimately doing the arrest has to have firsthand, evidence of the information necessary to make that arrest… but that officer didn’t have all that information when he made the arrest. He just made some assumptions.”
Orlando Police tell us they completed the investigation in accordance with state and local laws and that the officers followed department procedures.
They noted their officer testified in court that he smelled alcohol on Trooper Febo, but the prosecutors notes reveal that it was not noted in the individual officer’s report. That became the deal breaker in court.
So, is Trooper Febo still on the job? Florida Highway Patrol wouldn’t tell us much other than there is an internal investigation ongoing.
We received Febo’s personnel records that show he at least briefly placed on administrative duty.
9 Investigates reached out to Trooper Febo to interview, but he declined to comment.
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