FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Broward County sheriff Gregory Tony addressed the union’s latest attempt to remove him from his position Friday.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, said it will be up to the voters and not his office to determine whether he will keep his job.
In response to a letter written from BSO union president Jeff Bell, Tony said, “I have not even read the letter. That’s my response.”
The letter to the governor claimed Tony is unfit for the job, reading in part, “I respectfully ask you to remove Gregory Tony from office before his lack of ability, lack of qualifications and lack of judgment cost more lives at the Broward Sheriff’s Office.”
Tony said, “We have so many things going on in this county right now, where I have zero interest in being distracted with things that quite frankly, don’t matter to this community.”
This comes just weeks after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched a preliminary investigation into Tony after charges that he failed to disclose on his applications that he had shot and killed someone at the age of 14 while living in Philadelphia.
Tony has said the shooting was in self defense and that the courts cleared him.
Bell was suspended by Tony after he accused the sheriff of not providing enough personal protective equipment for the department and is not the only one who wants the sheriff ousted.
For the second straight day, protesters outside BSO headquarters demanded Tony’s departure as well as the reinstatement of BSO deputy Ron Thurston, who was reassigned after taking to social media to advocate for more diversity within the department.
One protester said, “This is not a Scott Israel campaign or anybody else’s campaign. This is community standing up for justice, for an unjust act by an unjust sheriff.”
Tony said, “I have no response specifically to what their discussion points are. I’m focused on making sure we do the things that matter, so that we don’t have a Minneapolis occur in our county.”
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