A former Miami-Dade cop arrested in October after barricading herself in a home and getting into a shootout with police sharpshooters was denied bond Wednesday after her ex-boyfriend explained to a judge how she stalked, threatened and fired toward his vehicle during a more-than-three-mile chase last year.
Former Miami Police Major David Sanchez told the court that Evelyn Fernandez was so angered about their breakup that several times last October she threatened to shoot him, his children and herself. One time, Sanchez said, when a gun fell out of Fernandez’s purse, she told him “things are going to end badly.”
Sanchez said when he took the weapon from her, she told him she had several others. The threats finally came to an end last Oct. 27, when Fernandez allegedly shot up a car Sanchez was in that was parked in the driveway of a Southwest Miami-Dade home, fled to another home and got into a shootout with police until she was arrested.
READ MORE: Former cop’s standoff with police at Southwest Miami-Dade home ends with her arrest
Charged with attempted first-degree murder, which could mean a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, Fernandez has remained jailed since her arrest. Her attorneys argued unsuccessfully Wednesday that their client had never been in trouble during a 25-year police career and that she was now suffering from stage 4 colon cancer.
“We think she ought to be released because she’s got health issues and essentially, someone shouldn’t be judged by their worst day,” said Michael Band, one of Fernandez’s attorneys.
Wednesday morning, after more than an hour of testimony and arguments, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Christine Hernandez said Fernandez was to stay in jail until her July trial.
“The court is concerned with the fact that Ms. Fernandez was a law enforcement officer,” said the judge. “She put other motorists, people in the street, in danger.”
Former officer has made headlines before
Fernandez, 52, who rose to the rank of lieutenant with Miami-Dade Police before being fired almost eight years ago after a series of bizarre domestic incidents, is no stranger to headlines. She is the former girlfriend of past police director and former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez. The pair got into a number of incidents that grabbed media spotlight.
Alvarez was arrested on domestic violence charges in 2016 after Fernandez filed a domestic battery charge against him, accusing the former police director of grabbing and shaking her, pinning her against a wall and spitting on her. She blamed his mood swings on steroids.
Three months later, Fernandez was arrested and charged with burglary and criminal mischief for breaking into his Coral Gables apartment.
All the charges against both of them were eventually dropped. The duo broke up. Fernandez was fired from the police force about a year later and Alvarez, after being tossed from office as mayor in one of the biggest recalls of a mayor in U.S. history, got involved in competitive body building.
Standoff and shootout with cops
The intense standoff with police that landed Fernandez in jail in October began after police were called to a Redland home after shots were fired. When police got there, they found Sanchez, who said Fernandez fired into his vehicle in the driveway. He was not injured, but several bullets struck his vehicle.
A short while later, police tracked Fernandez down at a home about five miles away. By the time police made contact with Fernandez, she had barricaded herself inside the home with several other people inside. She was armed. The others in the house got out unharmed.
As Special Response Team members — more commonly known as SWAT — began negotiations, Fernandez refused to leave the home and fired at them.
After an armed standoff that lasted more than 12 hours, she was eventually taken into custody, though police said Fernandez continued to resist until she was handcuffed.
