Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, 72, appeared via video camera in Broward County court on Friday to testify against his former domestic partner, Daniel James Curran, 34, who faces charges including violating a domestic violence injunction and battery on a person 65 or older, local TV media outlets reported.
Trantalis told the judge he had secured the injunction months ago but testified he was attempting to "rehabilitate Danny by trying to reconnect and hopefully steer him into counseling."
"I failed at that, and at the end ― this past weekend, he threw me to the ground," Trantalis testified, detailing the incident. "He committed everything that’s in the information, with regard to the violent act against me. And then I realized that there was no hope for this relationship."
WPLG Local 10 News, citing a Fort Lauderdale Police Department arrest documents, reported that last Saturday Curran allegedly pushed Trantalis, then grabbed his leg, pulled him down, and dragged him "approximately 15 feet" across a road. The mayor sustained injuries to his wrist, left leg, and right knee.
Police arrested Curran earlier this week after he showed up in the mayor’s driveway in violation of a protection order. The police report indicates the two had been in a relationship since March and previously lived together.
Curran was given a $6,000 bond and ordered to have no contact with Trantalis. Due to the high-profile nature of the case, the Broward State Attorney’s Office requested that Gov. Ron DeSantis move the matter to prosecutors in another county.
Trantalis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the relationship did not interfere with his mayor's job.
“It hasn’t interfered with my work as a lawyer in my practice, or at City Hall,” he said. “We’re just carrying on, doing our best and keeping the city going forward … there are going to be people out there that make all these accusations that I caused the city great expense and all that. These people will just do anything for political self-promotion.”
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