‘We are not above the law’: Miami cop charged with DUI after gun found on his lap near school

A Miami cop was arrested Tuesday on a DUI charge after authorities say a Miami-Dade Schools police officer found him near a school passed out behind the wheel of his personal car with a gun on his lap.

Joevanih Sauvagere, 31, was released Tuesday night from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $1,000 bond, Miami-Dade County jail records show.

Sauvagere has been with the department since 2017, Miami Police Chief Manny Morales told reporters at Wednesday press conference. Morales said Sauvagere has had no “significant” disciplinary actions in the past.

“We are not above the law,” Morales said. “Things that are not acceptable for our community will not be acceptable from any member of this department.”

Around 7 a.m., as the school day was beginning, people flagged down a nearby Miami-Dade County Public Schools police officer because they had seen a silver vehicle at Northwest Sixth Avenue and 62nd Street — about a block away from Edison Senior High School in Liberty City — with the driver “passed out,” according to Sauvagere’s arrest report.

The school officer parked his patrol vehicle in front of Sauvagere’s Infiniti Q50A and saw him unconscious behind the wheel.

The officer banged on the Infiniti’s window as loud music was coming from inside, Miami police said. Then the officer told Sauvagere to put his car in park, but instead he put the vehicle in reverse and moved about two feet before stopping and placing it in park.

As a Miami police lieutenant arrived, both officers spotted a firearm on Sauvagere’s lap, police said. Because he was “nodding in and out,” the Miami lieutenant grabbed the gun. After more officers arrived, the school officer got Sauvagere out of the car and detained him. The arrest was first reported by WSVN 7 News.

Morales could not confirm whether the weapon was Sauvagere’s personal or job-issued gun.

When another Miami officer arrived, Sauvagere was already in the back seat of a police car.

“I immediately smelled a very strong door of alcoholic beverage emitted from his breath,” the Miami officer said in the arrest report. “He had bloodshot, watery eyes and his eyelids were droopy.”

The Miami police officer said Sauvagere refused to perform a standardized field sobriety test and that a fire rescue unit was called after the suspect said he didn’t feel well.

Sauvagere was relieved of duty but he’ll continue getting paid as part of police union protocol, Morales said. The fate of his job hinges on the outcome of Miami police’s investigation.

“That behavior was unacceptable when I was a rookie in ‘94,” he said. “And it’s unacceptable now. Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of officers that have gone down this path.”

Morales also addressed the arrest of an officer from another department in South Florida earlier this week. He urged the public to maintain faith in police and underscored that they will be “held accountable.”

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“There are many more good officers than there’s officers that should not be here.”

Miami Herald Reporter Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.