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Mia. Beach Police Suspend Officer Over Alcohol Accusation

MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – The Miami Beach Police officer at the center of a scandal involving alcohol and his police cruiser has been relieved of duty with pay.

Miami Beach Police Chief Ray Martinez said the seriousness of the allegations against Officer Michael Veski prompted him to relieve him of duty as of March 29, 2012.

Veski was implicated in an altercation with a postal inspector last week. According to a tip given to Random Pixels, a police officer's cruiser was being driven by a friend of the officer when it nearly hit the inspector.

The officer allegedly got out of the passenger side of the car with a beer in hand and then exchanged words with the postal inspector before the postal worker finally left.

"As I committed at the onset of this investigation, a full and thorough review of this incident is underway, and if allegations are found to be substantiated; I will take swift and decisive action to address the actions of this officer," Chief Martinez said in a statement.

Additionally Officer Eric Dominguez is relieved of duty as video of him surfaced driving his cruise at a high rate of speed through the city. The chief saw the video and decided to take action.

The chief is taking it upon himself to clean up the departments image, starting with aggressively investigating any and all allegations.

Miami Beach FOP believes this is all politics. The chief was hired to be aggressive even if the evidence isn't there. They believe it's way too early in the investigation to be removing anyone from duty.

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