Governor's race: James Fishback’s pro-law enforcement running mate under criminal investigation
By Carlton Gillespie, Jake Shore
August 5, 2026 at 8:44 AM EDT
South Florida prosecutors are investigating Sean Lozano, Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback's running mate, over his actions as a police officer, WLRN has learned.
The Broward County State Attorney’s office confirmed the criminal investigation is being conducted by its Public Corruption Unit, after receiving a request last July from Lozano’s former employer, the Lauderhill Police Department.
The department requested prosecutors look at a March 7, 2025, incident involving Lozano at a bus terminal in Lauderhill, where an elderly woman was experiencing a mental health episode. She was sitting in the bus lane and preventing traffic from moving.
While trying to get her to move, Lozano forcefully pushed the woman to the ground before detaining her, according to Lauderhill’s internal investigation. He told other officers that he “threw” her on the ground.
However, when it came time for Lozano to report the incident to his supervisors, he told them a different story. He said the elderly woman struck him in the chest, then “lost her balance” and fell forward while handcuffed, according to the internal investigation.
Surveillance footage from the terminal contradicted what he told superiors, internal investigators reported.
“These discrepancies are significant and cannot be attributed to a minor memory lapse, as the force was a central event of the encounter,” the Lauderhill internal investigator wrote in a report.
Sean Lozano being sworn in as a police officer for the Lauderhill Police Department in a Facebook post dated Nov. 20, 2022. Lozano's career would include several disciplinary cases involving his aggressive conduct towards members of the public. A March 7, 2025, incident where internal affairs investigators found Lozano forcibly pushed a woman to the ground is now the subject of an investigation by the Broward County State Attorney's office. (2048x1536, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
Lozano also called the elderly woman a “b***h,” and told her to “shut the f**k up,” the document said. The department deemed his force inconsistent with the encounter because of the woman’s age, demeanor and “lack of clear imminent threat.”
Lozano did not return two phone calls from WLRN and nor did he respond to questions via text message.
WLRN sent questions to Fishback's campaign about the Lozano investigation. They did not respond to them directly, but instead sent a statement.
According to the campaign, Lozano is still certified as an officer with the state and was recognized by Lauderhill with an award a month and a half "after this alleged incident."
"Any attempt to mischaracterize his lawful use of force as 'criminal' is false, disgraceful, and insulting to every cop and corrections officer in Florida," Fishback's campaign said. "I refuse to let anyone smear the men and women who keep us safe."
Lozano was fired by the department in December 2025, according to his personnel file.
Pro-law enforcement campaign
In his gubernatorial campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Fishback and Lozano have cast themselves as pro-law enforcement and tough on crime.
“We need to get behind the men and women who wear the badge, instead of treating them like they’re the problem,” Lozano said at a June press conference, where Fishback announced the former officer would be his lieutenant governor.
Fishback, a Broward County-native and former investor, has surged in the polls by courting voters on the right-wing fringe through racist and antisemitic dog whistles — as well as young Floridians through populist economic positions. He’s still considered a longshot to win; polling averages put Republican Congressman Byron Donalds well ahead with a double-digit lead.
When it comes to law and order, Fishback and Lozano have seized on the topic of “teen takeovers” in Florida. They are spontaneous gatherings of teenagers in public places that have become disruptive and, at worst, violent — with fights occasionally breaking out.
“It wasn't a teen takeover. It was a riot by a group that was young and black,” Fishback said recently after one occurred in Tampa. “As Governor, I’d charge them all with rioting and as adults.”
Lozano has pledged to be the “strongest lieutenant governor on crime” in the state’s history.
Sean Lozano (center) gets up to speak at a Fort Lauderdale rally in late June 2026, after being named James Fishback's running mate earlier in the month. (2038x1314, AR: 1.5509893455098935)
Lozano's checkered record
Media reports found Lozano’s record as a Lauderhill cop was filled with incidents of aggression towards members of the public.
In December 2025, Lozano was fired by Lauderhill after a fitness-for-duty evaluation declared him “permanently unfit for duty.”
Per the city’s HR guidelines, a fitness-for-duty evaluation is triggered when a supervisor believes an employee, “is unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job due to an observable physical or psychological condition, or poses a direct threat to himself/herself or others because of an observable physical or psychological condition.”
After he became Fishback’s lieutenant governor pick, a Tampa television station found past posts on Lozano’s X account, formerly known as Twitter, where he used the N-word, called Black people “sub human,” and suggested that women were not capable of complex thought.
Lozano blamed his brother, saying his sibling created and ran the account with Lozano’s name and photo.
On the campaign trail, Lozano has leaned heavily on his law enforcement credentials to vouch for Fishback, without mentioning his own troubled history with the department.
" I loved being a police officer. I loved going into work every day and attacking crime," he told rally attendees in Fort Lauderdale in late June.
Being lieutenant governor, said Lozano, would mean "backing our men and women in law enforcement.
"Stop treating them like they are the problem," he said.
The Broward County State Attorney’s office confirmed the criminal investigation is being conducted by its Public Corruption Unit, after receiving a request last July from Lozano’s former employer, the Lauderhill Police Department.
The department requested prosecutors look at a March 7, 2025, incident involving Lozano at a bus terminal in Lauderhill, where an elderly woman was experiencing a mental health episode. She was sitting in the bus lane and preventing traffic from moving.
While trying to get her to move, Lozano forcefully pushed the woman to the ground before detaining her, according to Lauderhill’s internal investigation. He told other officers that he “threw” her on the ground.
However, when it came time for Lozano to report the incident to his supervisors, he told them a different story. He said the elderly woman struck him in the chest, then “lost her balance” and fell forward while handcuffed, according to the internal investigation.
Surveillance footage from the terminal contradicted what he told superiors, internal investigators reported.
“These discrepancies are significant and cannot be attributed to a minor memory lapse, as the force was a central event of the encounter,” the Lauderhill internal investigator wrote in a report.
Sean Lozano being sworn in as a police officer for the Lauderhill Police Department in a Facebook post dated Nov. 20, 2022. Lozano's career would include several disciplinary cases involving his aggressive conduct towards members of the public. A March 7, 2025, incident where internal affairs investigators found Lozano forcibly pushed a woman to the ground is now the subject of an investigation by the Broward County State Attorney's office. (2048x1536, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
Lozano also called the elderly woman a “b***h,” and told her to “shut the f**k up,” the document said. The department deemed his force inconsistent with the encounter because of the woman’s age, demeanor and “lack of clear imminent threat.”
Lozano did not return two phone calls from WLRN and nor did he respond to questions via text message.
WLRN sent questions to Fishback's campaign about the Lozano investigation. They did not respond to them directly, but instead sent a statement.
According to the campaign, Lozano is still certified as an officer with the state and was recognized by Lauderhill with an award a month and a half "after this alleged incident."
"Any attempt to mischaracterize his lawful use of force as 'criminal' is false, disgraceful, and insulting to every cop and corrections officer in Florida," Fishback's campaign said. "I refuse to let anyone smear the men and women who keep us safe."
Lozano was fired by the department in December 2025, according to his personnel file.
Pro-law enforcement campaign
In his gubernatorial campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Fishback and Lozano have cast themselves as pro-law enforcement and tough on crime.
“We need to get behind the men and women who wear the badge, instead of treating them like they’re the problem,” Lozano said at a June press conference, where Fishback announced the former officer would be his lieutenant governor.
Fishback, a Broward County-native and former investor, has surged in the polls by courting voters on the right-wing fringe through racist and antisemitic dog whistles — as well as young Floridians through populist economic positions. He’s still considered a longshot to win; polling averages put Republican Congressman Byron Donalds well ahead with a double-digit lead.
When it comes to law and order, Fishback and Lozano have seized on the topic of “teen takeovers” in Florida. They are spontaneous gatherings of teenagers in public places that have become disruptive and, at worst, violent — with fights occasionally breaking out.
“It wasn't a teen takeover. It was a riot by a group that was young and black,” Fishback said recently after one occurred in Tampa. “As Governor, I’d charge them all with rioting and as adults.”
Lozano has pledged to be the “strongest lieutenant governor on crime” in the state’s history.
Sean Lozano (center) gets up to speak at a Fort Lauderdale rally in late June 2026, after being named James Fishback's running mate earlier in the month. (2038x1314, AR: 1.5509893455098935)
Lozano's checkered record
Media reports found Lozano’s record as a Lauderhill cop was filled with incidents of aggression towards members of the public.
In December 2025, Lozano was fired by Lauderhill after a fitness-for-duty evaluation declared him “permanently unfit for duty.”
Per the city’s HR guidelines, a fitness-for-duty evaluation is triggered when a supervisor believes an employee, “is unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job due to an observable physical or psychological condition, or poses a direct threat to himself/herself or others because of an observable physical or psychological condition.”
After he became Fishback’s lieutenant governor pick, a Tampa television station found past posts on Lozano’s X account, formerly known as Twitter, where he used the N-word, called Black people “sub human,” and suggested that women were not capable of complex thought.
Lozano blamed his brother, saying his sibling created and ran the account with Lozano’s name and photo.
On the campaign trail, Lozano has leaned heavily on his law enforcement credentials to vouch for Fishback, without mentioning his own troubled history with the department.
" I loved being a police officer. I loved going into work every day and attacking crime," he told rally attendees in Fort Lauderdale in late June.
Being lieutenant governor, said Lozano, would mean "backing our men and women in law enforcement.
"Stop treating them like they are the problem," he said.