SURFSIDE, Fla. – There’s new fallout from a series of confrontations involving the mayor of Surfside and the town’s police department.
One day after Local 10 News reported on Mayor Charles Burkett’s latest run-in with town police officers, Surfside’s police chief is abruptly stepping down as of Friday.
Chief Enrique “Henry” Doce led the force for less than a year. Surfside hired the longtime ex-Miami Beach police official in March after its former police chief, Antonio Marciante, resigned amid a swirl of political drama in the coastal town.
It’s not clear why Doce, described by Burkett in an interview Thursday as “very popular,” stepped down. According to a memo from Acting Town Manager Mark Blumstein, Deputy Chief Edward Wayne Holbrook will take the reins of the department.
Burkett called Doce’s resignation “part and parcel to the toxicity” in the town.
Officer Tammy Campbell, who leads the Surfside police union, called Burkett’s interaction during a traffic enforcement operation, in which he appeared to tell town officers how to do their jobs, “concerning.”
“Our officers are just trying to do our jobs,” she said, after saying that Burkett has “bullied” her.
All of this comes as another new piece of body camera video surfaces of a Surfside resident claiming that Burkett pulled her over after she made an illegal U-turn.
“He goes, ‘Oh, come, look, I have a badge,’” the woman is heard saying in the video, later asking, “Does he have the right to pull me over?”
Her husband is heard in the video asking, “Why are you chasing my wife down the streets of Surfside?”
“It sounds like an old crazy person yelling at people,” he says in the video. “Again. Nobody knew he was the mayor.”
Campbell weighed in on the latest video, saying, “If he did, in fact, try to, or attempt to pull over another civilian — a citizen — that is, you know, violating the law.”
“It’s concerning for his safety, for the public’s safety,” she said. “He’s not a sworn law enforcement officer and he has no authority to do these things.”
During Thursday’s interview, Burkett that he “did not pull (the woman) over.”
“I followed her because I was right behind her. When the light changed, I was right behind her and I did want to talk to her,” he said. “What I did was I pulled up behind her.”
When asked about Campbell’s assertion that he’s a “bully,” Burkett responded, “I’m a bully, in her mind, probably because I want a certain level of service for our residents.”