Miami-Dade Officer Avoids DUI Probe Despite Witness Allegations of Impairment

DEBARYLIFE – A Miami-Dade mother and her teenage son informed police they thought an inebriated driver had rear-ended their car. They are wondering why the responding officer did not show up to look into their complaint.

NBC6 investigators discovered that the driver at fault, who they felt was intoxicated, was Willy Knapp, a well-known Miami-Dade police officer, the brother of sheriff candidate Mario Knapp, and the spouse of a police major.

Furthermore, although the accident happened more than 18 months ago, the department has yet to provide the crash report or any other documents that the NBC6 Investigators asked for in December.

The department suppressed the body-worn camera footage of the responding officer for months while claiming an internal inquiry was still underway.

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The video was made public last month on the morning following NBC6’s visit to the MDPD Professional Compliance Bureau, an internal investigative unit, and their questioning of the bureau’s investigation timeline.

The responding officer Anthony Santillan’s body-worn camera supports what the driver of the car and his mother told NBC6 about their interaction with the police, even though the MDPD has not yet released any additional records.

It depicts Santillan arriving at the scene of the rear-end collision on SW 216th Street at 11:47 p.m. on October 1, 2022, to be met with a fist bump from a then-recruiter police officer who had driven to the scene to pick up Knapp.