Miami-Dade County’s newest chief resilience officer was arrested on domestic violence charges the weekend before he was due to start the new role.
Miami-Dade County court records show Curtis Osceola, formerly the chief of staff for the Miccosukee Tribe, was arrested and booked Friday evening, around 6 p.m., and released Saturday morning. He was charged with battery and resisting an officer without violence.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment and it was unclear whether he had obtained an attorney.
According to the arrest report, his girlfriend of two years called the police in the middle of an argument about his ongoing divorce.
She told police Osceola slapped her, and the officer noted she had a “fresh scratch” on her neck. Osceola also had a bleeding cut on his right ear, and there were “various signs of a disturbance” inside the Doral apartment they share, including broken glass on the floor, the report said.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who announced the hire last week, said in a statement:
“The situation is currently under review, and for that reason, his starting date will be delayed while the legal process takes course. In the meantime, Miami-Dade County has a strong, well-prepared team at the Office of Resilience that will continue working without interruptions to advance our priorities.”
READ MORE: Miami-Dade’s new climate change czar has a mission: ‘We want this place to survive’
This story was produced in partnership with the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multi-newsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times.
