Broward Sheriff's Office Deputy Joshua Gallardo was expecting to be presented with the Deputy of the Month award last week during the weekly city commission meeting in Tamarac, Florida for his arrest of an alleged gang member wanted for a murder committed in El Salvador. Gallardo couldn't have foreseen that the celebratory moment would be interrupted with such a shocking revelation by the city's own commissioner E. Mike Gelin.
"Joshua Gallardo, can you come down for a second?," Gelin asked.
"It's good to see you again," Gelin continued as Gallardo made his way to the front of the chambers. "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."
Gelin later described the July 2015 incident to USA TODAY where he tried to break up fight. He claims that when Gallardo arrived on the scene, the deputy "singled him out," demanding that Gelin back up and stop using his phone to record the altercation once it turned violent when one of the people in the fight clocked the other with a glass bottle.
The Miami Herald obtained records showing that Gelin was arrested after he allegedly failed to follow "commands to move from the area," but was not charged.
"I was profoundly affected by my wrongful arrest and the fact that nothing was done about it, made it even worse," Gelin said in the 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."
