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By Davy V.

It’s no secret that a major part of what drives me as an activist and writer exposing police misconduct, corruption, and dirty cops is my Dad Mario Vara.

My Dad was a long-time community activist who for many years exposed the corrupt Rochester, NY Police department.

Having left Cuba with my mom and my brother in 1968, in search of a better life, my Dad was saddened to see that here, in the United States of America, a “free” country, the police could break into innocent people’s homes, abuse, beat, and in some cases even kill them.

And get away with it.

It reminded my Dad of his homeland.

However, unlike many people born here in the U.S., who take their rights for granted and who are complacent when it comes to standing up and denouncing injustices, my Dad did something.

He became active in the local community, attending meetings, organizing people, holding rallies and marches, but most importantly being a voice for those too afraid to speak out.

As a young teen, I recall my Dad’s passion.

It was contagious.

Unlike fake politicians who promise potential voters the world, while posing for photo-ops with babies, my Dad truly cared about people.

I admired my Dad so much.

He was real.

His passion to fight against, and expose injustices was genuine.

I began to help him, sometimes by making signs for different protest rallies, other times by simply accompanying him to meetings and rallies.

My Dad co-hosted a Spanish-language cable access television show called ‘La Voz del Pueblo’, (The Voice of the Town).

The show was another way for my Dad to educate and inform the community in Rochester, on issues varying from police misconduct to discrimination in the workplace.

But my Dad’s major thing was exposing police corruption and demanding accountability and action from City government, yes those same elected officials who at one point in time or another, promised the world to those who helped them get into office.

You see, my Dad had no problem calling those officials out, reminding them that they had a job to do, and demanding that they do it.

They hated him.

He was a thorn in their sides.

And no one hated my Dad more than the Rochester, NY Police department.

They hated that he was not afraid to stand up to them.

They hated that he rallied and inspired others to also stand up and get involved.

As a result of my Dad’s work, the Rochester Police department would constantly harass and intimidate him.

Sometimes on a daily basis.

With their intimidation tactics, the Rochester, NY Police department broke my Dad down in the worst way a person can be broken down.

Psychologically.

Which is worse than any beating.

Unfortunately, my Dad fell into a very bad, deep depression and committed suicide, while me and my mom were home.

It’s something I have never gotten over, and despite what people say that things get better — they don’t.

My Dad wasn’t just my father, he was my best friend.

My Dad may be gone, but what he instilled in me, will forever be in me.

A relentless passion to stand up to injustices and corruption.

Like those committed by dirty, rogue cops.

The same ones who take an oath to serve and protect.

Dirty, rogue cops like Cleveland, Ohio Police officer Luis M. Rivera, who used the “City of Cleveland Municipal Courts IP address, “12.202.84.226”, during work hours, to post this comment:

BuckNut says:

November 14, 2012 at 1:12 am

Davy V. Your father was a coward who took the easy way out. Go cry a river to someone else. Nobody cares that suicide is a sensitive subject to you. Anyone who takes his or her own life is self centered and selfish including your father. The only way his action could be forgiven in my eyes is if he iced you before offing himself. Oh the pain is unbearable… And Davy V. You know what they say…like father like son!!!

But officer Rivera didn’t stop there.

No.

He also somehow got a hold of my personal email address and sent me this email:

fuck you go kill your self

fuck you go kill your self

fuck you go kill your self

fuck you go kill your self

fuck you go kill your self

fuck you go kill your self

fuck you go kill your self

fuck you go kill your self

And now, I get to do what I love to do.

Expose a dirty cop.

Cleveland, Ohio Police officer Luis M. Rivera.

Although officer Rivera made this personal, the reality is that this is so much more than about my Dad, Mario Vara and his memory.

Nothing officer Rivera or anyone else says about my Dad will change who he was.

A Great man.

This is about a police officer in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, who swore an oath to serve and protect.

A Cleveland Police officer who has been entrusted with the power and authority to make life and death decisions in his daily interactions with the citizens of Cleveland.

This is about the City of Cleveland, Ohio, not only the residents of the 2nd district where officer Luis Rivera works 3rd platoon, but also the need that City of Cleveland, Ohio officials, such as Police Chief Michael McGrath and Mayor Frank G. Jackson, take notice who they have on their police force.

After officer Rivera’s hurtful, insensitive, disgusting comments, not only about my Dad, but sending me a disturbing, 8 line, repetitive email telling me to kill myself, I shake my head when I think that this man is a police officer, on the streets of Cleveland, who in his capacity as a law enforcement officer, deals with mentally-ill, disturbed people.

Does the City of Cleveland, Ohio and its Police force really want a police officer who engages in this sort of behavior?

I intend to see this through and will not stop until action is taken against officer Luis M. Rivera.

In closing, I can’t help but think that Cleveland, Ohio Police officer Luis M. Rivera, who again works 3rd Platoon out of the City’s 2nd district, had no idea that his name, and photo, along with his disgusting, disturbing behavior, would be exposed not only to his City, family, friends and colleagues, but to the world.

On officer Rivera’s facebook page he lists his occupation as “Garbage Collector.”

I wonder what the City of Cleveland Ohio, Mayor Jackson and Police Chief McGrath have to say about having an officer like Rivera on the force, an officer who thinks so highly of his chosen profession, and the oath he swore.

Do Cleveland officials even care?

Cleveland, Ohio Police department Second District

(216) 623-5200 or (216) 623-5220

Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/davyvara