A Florida cop has been arrested for child abuse and domestic battery after getting involved in a physical altercation with his teenage daughter.
Corporal Emmanuel Perez with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office has been placed on administrative leave as he’s now the subject of an internal probe.
Cops in Port. St. Lucie received a call on Wednesday, March 11, from the 47-year-old law enforcement veteran, seeking help with his 15-year-old daughter, who had run off just as he was trying to drive her to school.
The daughter’s name was not released.
Sheriff John Budensiek spoke to reporters Wednesday, and said Perez, an officer, “is held to a higher standard, and we hold him to a higher standard, so he was just letting us know that there were issues on the home front.”
Perez’s daughter, the sheriff explained, “was trying to go to school, which, I guess today she was not, and he was having issues reeling her back in. The police department showed up out there, helped resolve that issue, got her back in the car.”
Budensiek said that Perez drove the girl home instead of to school and another altercation erupted.
Police arrived after receiving a second call to find Perez and his daughter on the ground, fighting.
“She made accusations that he had battered her by pulling her hair and pulling her jacket,” Budensiek told reporters. “And she had some marks on her. A neighbor next door, according to the report, and I’ve only read the report, also attested to that.”
Budensiek said it appears the girl sustained minor scrapes to the abdomen and possibly the arm.
Budensiek said Perez has called on the police for help with his child in the past.
He did not elaborate on what those issues may have been.
Perez, who was only elevated to corporal last month, always reported the issues as a precaution, according to Budensiek.
Budensiek told the media he is the one who ordered an internal affairs investigation into Perez’s conduct.
“I’m going into this [with] eyes wide open, and whatever the facts are, we’ll go there,” Budensiek said. “If the facts are negative to Deputy Perez, then I’ll deal with that appropriately, and if they’re positive towards him, then we’ll deal with that also.”
Perez is charged with individual counts of domestic battery, a misdemeanor, and child abuse without physical harm, a felony.
It was unclear if Perez has appeared in court to enter pleas to the charges.
It was also unclear if he has been barred from having any contact with the girl, and how that might impact his living situation.
Information about who his lawyer may be was also not available at press time.
If you suspect child abuse, please call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit ChildHelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential, and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
