Attorney accuses suspended Hollywood police officer of lying in DUI case

HOLLYWOOD - An attorney says a Hollywood police officer who was suspended recently amid allegations he was involved in a crash cover-up lied during a deposition in his client's DUI case.

Miami attorney Robert Reiff is fighting to have the charges against his client, Steven Berglund, dropped because of the issue.

Reiff says Hollywood Police Officer Dewey Pressley gave sworn testimony that his traffic stop of Berglund on Aug. 26, 2008, was not recorded on his police car's dashboard camera when, in fact, it was.

"The officer stated that he did not record the investigation or Mr. Berglund on his in-car video camera because the camera equipment was broken. ... However, having previously requested and obtaining a copy of the video, counsel knew this to be incorrect," Reiff wrote in court documents filed Wednesday.

Reiff also wrote that had his client been aware of the cover-up allegations against Pressley, he would not have accepted a plea deal from prosecutors on July 9.

Berglund, 43, pleaded no contest to the charges against him in exchange for a reduced sentence that includes three years' probation, 30 days in the county jail and a 10-year suspension of his driver's license.

He had been charged with damaging property while driving under the influence, driving without a valid license, failing to yield the right of way, lacking personal injury insurance and failing to display a valid vehicle registration.

The cover-up allegations against Pressley stem from a DUI arrest that happened in February, but they first became public two weeks ago.

Broward Chief Public Defender Howard Finkelstein leaked a copy of the police dash-cam video that recorded officers discussing how they were going to falsify a crash report to protect a police officer involved in a rear-end collision.

That night, Hollywood Police Officer Joel Francisco hit Alexandra Torrens-Vilas' vehicle on Sheridan Street with his patrol car. Neither Francisco nor Torrens-Vilas was seriously injured in the collision.

Police estimated the damage to the police car at $3,000, according to a crash report.

Prosecutors dropped DUI charges against Torrens-Vilas, whose breath-alcohol test readings were about .15 -- nearly twice Florida's legal limit for motorists -- days after the police video become public.

Prosecutors said the video presented potential problems with the police version of events.

Police Chief Chad Wagner has launched an internal investigation into the matter and suspended Pressley, Francisco, Sgt. Andrew Diaz, Community Service Officer Karim Thomas and Crime Scene Technician Andrea Tomassi.

Prosecutors and public defenders, as well as private attorneys, have been reviewing their pending and past cases in which the police employees were involved to see whether any cases should be dropped.

So far, prosecutors have dropped charges against two juveniles because of Diaz's role in the cases and the current questions about his credibility, officials said. The specifics of those juvenile court cases are not public.