Deputy stabs self; sets off manhunt www.privateofficer.com

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Deputy stabs self; sets off massive manhunt www.privateofficer.com

Broward County Florida November 29, 2007

A Broward sheriff’s patrol sergeant lied when she claimed an assailant stabbed her on Sunday but won’t face any criminal charges or discipline from the agency, officials said Wednesday.”We’re going to get her some help,” said sheriff’s spokesman Elliot Cohen, explaining that Sgt. Lisa DiSavino had been experiencing personal problems and admitted that those issues led her to stab herself in the stomach and make up the story that she was attacked.DiSavino, 29, had said she was stabbed while on patrol in Tamarac early Sunday.
The seven-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office was treated at Broward General Medical Center and released hours later to continue her recovery at home. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
DiSavino is off duty while she recovers from the wound, and officials have offered her additional help through the Sheriff’s Office’s employee assistance program, Cohen said.DiSavino’s call for help about 2 a.m. Sunday, in which she said she was stabbed by a man she had approached at a bus stop along Commercial Boulevard, led to an all-out search for a suspect who officials eventually learned did not exist.The agency for at least six hours on Sunday sent K-9 units, a helicopter and SWAT team members to the area surrounding the bus stop, where part of the search saw deputies combing through bushes. They were looking for a man who wore a Miami Dolphins jersey, just as DiSavino had described, officials said at the time.
Officers from neighboring police departments joined in the search.There were echoes of “not again” from law enforcement officials and residents, with the reported attack coming at a time when violence aimed at South Florida officers has spiked, with the Broward Sheriff’s Office feeling the brunt of it.Only three weeks ago, the agency buried Corrections Deputy Paul Rein, who was shot to death with his own gun on Nov. 7.County inmate Michael Mazza, whom Rein was driving to court that day, was charged in the killing.Rein was the third South Florida law officer slain in the line of duty since August, the tragedy preceded by the Sept. 13 shooting death of Miami-Dade Police Officer Jose Somohano in a South Miami-Dade shootout and the Aug. 10 shooting of Broward Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Reyka outside a Pompano Beach Walgreens.The prime suspect in Somohano’s death was shot dead by police during a confrontation in Pembroke Pines the night of Sept. 13.Reyka’s murder remains unsolved.

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