Source: Creative Services / iOne Digital
During Tamarac’s weekly city commission meeting, Joshua Gallardo —a Broward County Sherriff’s Office Deputy — was anticipating being awarded with a Deputy of the Month honey. According to Complex, he was set to receive this award for his arrest of an alleged gang member who was highly wanted around the county and state for a murder committed in El Salvador. Instead, his joyous moment was interrupted by the city commissioner E. Mike Gelin when he asked Gallardo to step forward.
“It’s good to see you again,” Gelin stated as Gallardo approached. “You probably don’t remember me, but you’re the police officer who falsely arrested me four years ago. You lied on the police report. I believe you’re a rogue police officer, you’re a bad police officer, and you don’t deserve to be here.”
Talk about a plot twist.
Gelin would continue to describe an incident that happened in July of 2015, during which Gelin was making an attempt to break up a fight and Gallardo arrived on the scene and “singled him out.” Gallardo demanded that Gelin back up and stop recording the situation on his phone once the situation became violent.
Per Complex, records show that Gelin was arrested for allegedly failing to follow commands to move from the area, but he was not charged with anything.
“I was profoundly affected by my wrongful arrest and the fact that nothing was done about it, made it even worse,” Gelin said in a statement. “It was a traumatizing experience that I have played out in my head many times. I had a flashback and a flood of emotions came to me at the meeting and so, I spoke up.”
