PORT ST. LUCIE — A Port St. Lucie police officer was fired after an internal investigation found she didn’t properly seize or document suspected marijuana during a traffic stop, according to recently-released records and police.
Officer Alexis Bieger was fired in February following an investigation of a Nov. 4, 2021, incident in which she said she stopped a Nissan in the area of Southeast Airoso Boulevard and Southeast Voltair Terrace, according to police and records.
The stop involved a front passenger seatbelt violation.
The investigation sustained findings of neglect in assigned duties, improper conduct and inefficiency in assigned duties against Bieger, hired Nov. 30, 2020.
Police began investigating after an officer who arrived for backup expressed concerns with how the traffic stop was handled.
The backup officer reported Bieger asked the driver to exit the vehicle, and that Bieger told him she smelled marijuana.
The backup officer said he patted down the driver and passenger, and smelled marijuana on the passenger. The backup officer said Bieger turned up a “rifle-style BB gun.”
She also said, “Oh, look what I found,” and held what he thought was a sandwich bag with a small amount of marijuana.
The backup officer said the passenger said he was sorry, and that the marijuana was his.
The backup officer said Bieger issued a written warning and released them.
He said he asked Bieger where the marijuana was and she said “something to the effect of, ‘I don’t (expletive) with that (expletive).’” He said he told her she should have put it in evidence as found property, and she responded, “I look for the hard (expletive).’”
A sergeant reported Bieger called him asking about the proper citation for a passenger not wearing a seatbelt and about the legality of a BB gun being near the driver, but said she never mentioned marijuana.
During the internal affairs investigation, Bieger said she found a sandwich bag of four to five “balls” of a green substance in a satchel the passenger took off. She reported smelling marijuana from the bag.
Bieger said she hasn’t encountered a lot of marijuana. She said she saw an empty medical marijuana and CBD dispensary container in the center console but agreed the sandwich bag wasn’t consistent with medical marijuana packaging.
Bieger said she didn’t conduct a test on the substance, saying she didn’t have a test kit and didn’t call anyone with field testing kits.
Bieger reported she didn’t read the driver or passenger Miranda warnings and interview them about the substance.
She reported not telling the sergeant about the marijuana because she was focused on the BB gun. She said she’d never found a firearm or BB gun in a vehicle, and was unsure what to do with it.
Bieger said she didn’t collect the substance or put it into evidence.
Police later spoke by phone to the driver of the vehicle in the traffic stop. When asked whether the marijuana was taken by the officer or put back in the vehicle, he didn’t want to answer.
