MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A county commissioner who represents Key West residents was behind bars in Miami-Dade on Wednesday after being arrested on domestic battery allegations.
Monroe County Commissioner Eddie Martinez was arrested Tuesday night after an alleged incident at a family home in Hialeah earlier in the day that led to his daughter calling 911.
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Martinez, 46, was elected to the county commission in November 2020. According to an arrest report, domestic violence accusations against him go much further back, but they become more public now that he is a commissioner.
Police say Martinez’s 13-year-old daughter hid in a closet and called 911 on Tuesday morning, saying her dad was getting violent with her mother and throwing things.
His daughters told police that their father is on prescription medications and that when he is off his medication he is known to be violent, the arrest report says.
The family on Wednesday declined to talk about what happened at the home in Hialeah where Martinez grew up.
Police documented a marital fight at a bar Monday night, with Martinez’s wife leaving and telling him to take an Uber home.
On Tuesday morning, still angry, Martinez is accused of throwing drawers and a pill bottle, hurting his wife.
Police say he denied the allegations but that the evidence shows otherwise.
Martinez was being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $1,500 bond.
He posted bond and was released from jail Wednesday evening, but did not say anything while walking from the exit to a vehicle.
This criminal case comes as Martinez fights a challenge to his election. He’s accused of being ineligible — of not even living in the Key West district when he beat the incumbent Heather Carruthers by less than half a percent last year.
Martinez, a land surveyor, claims he lived at his office on Truman Avenue. That case is still in play.
Martinez’s bio on the Monroe County website says he “is a professional land surveyor by trade with more than 30 years of experience” and that from 1996 to 2010 he was a pro bono professor at Miami-Dade Community College.
He became a full-time resident of the Florida Keys in 2010, his bio says.
Martinez represents District 3, which includes the western part of Key West.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has the power to suspend elected officials charged with crimes. His office said he is reviewing this case.