BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida Highway Patrol’s Office of Professional Compliance has launched a review into a February traffic stop involving an off-duty Brevard County deputy sheriff caught speeding 111 mph on his motorcycle, News 6 has learned.
Michael Fultz, who was named Brevard County’s Deputy of the Year about a month after the traffic stop, could have been arrested under Florida’s Dangerous Excessive Speeding Act, more commonly known as the “Super Speeder” law.
Instead, the FHP trooper who stopped Fultz issued him a civil traffic citation for driving nine miles per hour over the speed limit. Fultz later paid a $255 fine and was not required to appear in court, records show.
[WATCH: Brevard Deputy of the Year caught speeding 11 mph not arrested under ‘Super Speeder’ law]
When Trooper Joshua Provencher first spotted Fultz’s motorcycle driving at a high rate of speed on U.S. 192 near Melbourne on February 9, it appears the trooper believed a crime was being committed.
“He’s going to jail,” Provencher can be heard saying to himself as he began following the motorcycle, according to video from the trooper’s patrol car obtained by News 6.
After Fultz identified himself as a fellow law enforcement officer, the trooper called his supervisor.
“I know this guy. He is a deputy,” Provencher told the FHP sergeant.
After noting that Fultz was “not weaving” but there was a “decent amount of traffic”, the trooper expressed his desire not to arrest the deputy.
Under Florida’s Dangerous Excessive Speeding Act, law enforcement can arrest motorists who drive 100 mph or more in a manner that threatens the safety of other persons or property.
First time offenders can face up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor.
“If I can avoid the 10-15, I don’t want to ruin his job,” Provencher told his supervisor, according to the recording.
10-15 is police terminology for “prisoner in custody”.
“I’m not going to take you to jail, Fultz,” Provencher told the deputy, the video recording shows. “Obviously you and I are buddies. I’m not trying to show favoritism, either.”
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office launched an administrative investigation into Fultz on March 14, the day after the agency named him Deputy of the Year.
Records show Fultz’s ex-girlfriend had sent an email to the sheriff’s office detailing several troubling allegations against Fultz. She later told investigators about the traffic stop, which Fultz allegedly failed to report to his supervisor.
An investigator with the sheriff’s office later interviewed the trooper and the deputy.
“Trooper Provencher was aware that Deputy Fultz’s speed, along with the traffic conditions which made his speed a danger to other drivers, met the statutory criminal requirements for the new ‘super speeder law’,” sheriff’s investigators wrote. “Deputy Fultz admitted the speeds at which he was traveling did violate the ‘super speeder’ law.”
Fultz resigned from the sheriff’s office on May 27 in lieu of termination after the sheriff concluded he had engaged in “egregious misconduct” that included performing a sex act with an agency handgun and misuse of the Flock camera license plate reader system, records show.