According to the Miami New Times, a former Key Biscayne police officer previously fired for sleeping on the job is now running for sheriff of Collier County in Florida.
After fellow officers running an internal investigation caught him asleep in his patrol car on two occasions, Carlos Gutierrez was fired for jeopardizing public safety on the night shift. A GPS tracking device on his vehicle found he had been idle for a third of the time he’d been on the clock during the two weeks he was under surveillance.
After a spectacle like that, you might think Gutierrez would look into an alternate career path. Instead, he’s running for sheriff of Collier County.
As of this week, Gutierrez remained the only candidate who had filed for the November election in the county, home to Naples and Florida’s largest farming operations. Incumbent Sheriff Kevin Rambosk, a veteran law enforcement officer with two terms as sheriff under his belt, has yet to file paperwork with the supervisor of elections, although a spokeswoman says he has every intention of doing so.
In Key Biscayne, Gutierrez filed a grievance to get his job back, saying he had sleep apnea and accusing the department of targeting him after he started a union there. A federal arbitrator denied his request, saying Gutierrez admitted in interviews to “dozing off” and pointing out that he’d never disclosed his sleep apnea to supervisors.
