Just this past February, an FHP trooper was driving down US 192 near Melbourne and sawa a motorcycle blow by him in the opposite direction at 111 mph. He is heard to say on his dash camera: “That guy’s going to jail,” as he turned the car around to give chase.
I know this area well. There is a spot not far from where this stop took place where the road enters a curve and the speed limit drops from 45 to 35. I took my foot off the gas and entered the curve. When the curve ended, I saw a cop sitting there. I got a speeding ticket for going 42 in a 35.
FHP troopers are well known for ticketing everyone. After all, traffic enforcement is their entire job. That’s all they do. Florida has a law called the “super speeder law,” making it a crime to drive more than 100 mph. First time offenders can face up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor. It also turns out the rider didn’t have a motorcycle endorsement. In Florida, you must have a motorcycle endorsement on your license in order to operate a motorcycle. FHP troopers are well known for ticketing everyone. After all, traffic enforcement is their entire job. That’s all they do. This motorcyclist was in a world of trouble.
Or he would have been, except the motorcycle rider was a fellow cop that had worked for Brevard County as a Deputy since 2024. Not just any cop, he is the Brevard county Deputy of the Year. He was awarded the medal of valor for shooting a suicidal man he had claimed charged him with a knife. One same day as the awards ceremony, the deputy’s ex-girlfriend sent an email to the sheriff’s office detailing numerous allegations against the deputy. They are pretty serious (see below).
Back to the traffic stop: The entire stop was caught on the trooper’s dash cam. Since the stop had been called in, the trooper had to do SOMETHING, so the cop returned to his patrol car and called his sergeant for advice. The sergeant told the trooper it was up to him what he did, so the Deputy got a citation for 9 mph over the speed limit. The deputy has resigned so as to avoid being terminated and losing his ability to be a cop somewhere else.
This story would have been enough for a blog post on its own, but there is more, far more to the story.
The email from Deputy Crime Wave’s ex-girlfriend caused some of his crimes to come to light:
- placing his department issued firearm in his ex-girlfriend’s mouth and pointing it at the back of her head during sex
- making an inappropriate Facetime call from his patrol car while wearing his uniform as he masturbated
- appearing to perform a “Nazi salute” in a photograph captured shortly before he was hired as a deputy
- using racially insensitive language in text messages, calling some of the people he came into contact with “niggers”
- accessing the agency’s Flock camera license plate reader system to stalk his ex-girlfriend
After Sheriff Wayne Ivey expressed his intent to terminate the Deputy of the Year, he resigned. Even though the Sherriff’s department’s investigation revealed criminal acts on the part of the Deputy, there is no indication that he was criminally charged or even investigated. It turns out the FHP trooper’s stop wasn’t the first time he had been stopped for the same offense- there were at least four occasions in two months while riding his motorcycle off duty.
The investigation of this one man crime wave eventually caught up other cops, including the FHP trooper. The FHP’s Office of Professional Compliance is reviewing the trooper’s actions.
“Trooper (Joshua) Provencher was aware that Deputy Fultz’s speed, along with the traffic conditions which made his speed a danger to other drivers, met the statutory criminal requirements for the new ‘super speeder law’,” sheriff’s investigators wrote. “Deputy Fultz admitted the speeds at which he was travelling did violate the ‘super speeder’ law, and he was aware that BCSO and FHP were in a current campaign to aggressively curtail excessive and unlawful speeding.”
This isn’t a story about one criminal wearing a badge, as bad as that would be. This deputy was caught multiple times (at least four) violating the law, but other cops let him go. The FHP trooper in this story even called his supervisor, who also told the trooper it was fine to let him go.
There are people who read this blog that would say I am anti-cop. That’s nonsense. I just want cops held to the same standards as the rest of us. Others would say this cop is just a bad apple. That’s also nonsense- at least five other cops permitted this behavior and let him go when the law clearly demanded they do something.
The FHP trooper falsified documents, showed favoritism, and his Sergeant was a willing accomplice with a “It’s up to you whether or not you let him go,” wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
This is a widespread practice amongst cops, although many or even most will deny it. There are bad cops, then there are also good cops who overlook the criminal of the bad cops because they are cops, which makes all of them bad cops.
That’s the reason why we as a society need to limit the powers we grant to our police, and need to closely supervise and monitor them.
Source Material
111 mph: Brevard Deputy of the Year avoids arrest under Florida ‘Super Speeder’ law
Brevard Deputy of the Year quits after ‘egregious misconduct’ exposed
FHP reviewing traffic stop of Florida deputy caught speeding 111 mph
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