ORLANDO, Fla. — Eyewitness News obtained new documents that say how two Orlando police officers tried to explain the actions that ultimately got them fired.
The officers were fired after it was determined they broke department policy involving a police chase outside their jurisdiction.
An Orange County sheriff’s deputy spotted a marked Orlando police vehicle on Dec. 28, 2015, pursing a suspect in a Jeep toward Silver Star Road with no lights on, deputies said.
“Can you find out what they’re chasing that (Jeep) for?” a deputy asked dispatch.
An internal affairs report obtained by Channel 9’s
said Orlando police officers Michael Favorit and Frederick Rolle had six minutes to tell dispatchers why they were following the Jeep without using lights and sirens for at least 4 miles.
After the chase ended, the suspects ran, the officers said.
The officers then drove the suspect's vehicle back into the city before it was properly processed, the report found.
In the report, the officers tried to explain their actions, such as why they failed to alert deputies about the possibility of armed suspects on the loose.
Rolle told an investigator, “I can call everyone out here, but I don't have a description. I don't know what to tell them. I'm like, ‘Let's move it back to where we feel safe because I don't know nothing about this area.’”
The report also said Favorit was wearing a body camera during the incident but did not activate it.
"I wasn't thinking vehicle pursuit. I was just trying to catch up to the car, it snowballed from there. And I was still dealing with the learning curve of the camera," Favorit explained to investigators about why his body camera wasn't on.
Both officers were fired in June over the chase. They to have an opportunity to appeal their firings.
Cox Media Group
