Surfside Mayor Told Officer He 'Had A Crush' On Her: Report

Miami FL

21 October, 2021

12:29 PM

Description

SURFSIDE, FL — Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett is under fire after a police bodycam video caught him telling an officer that he "had a crush" on her. In the video, which was obtained by WSVN, Burkett, who is shirtless while speaking with two officers and a friend on the beach, tells one of the officers, "You came in '06? We've got in the distance together. Well, I've had a crush on you. She's the best-looking police officer we've ever had." The officers were called to the beach when Burkett called police to complain about loud music, WSVN reported. The mayor called police twice, the second time complaining about the response time. "I'm not thrilled with the response time. If it had been an emergency, we'd be in trouble," Burkett said. When the officers — a man and a woman responded — the mayor joked with them about the response time. "I'm dead already. The knife is in my neck," he said when they asked him about what was going on. He later complained to higher-ranking officers about the response time and the female officer was told to write a memo explaining why it took them 15 minutes to respond, reports said. One of the officers involved in the incident has contacted an attorney, WSVN said. Burkett defended his actions and comments to Local 10 News. "I say you have to keep this in context," he told the news outlet. "We live in a gotcha world. If I had done something inappropriate or wrong, I'd be happy to own up to it." The mayor said he did have a crush on the female officer, Officer Marianne Howard, in the past. "I did have, at a point in my life — many, many years ago — a crush on her," Burkett said. "Because she was so nice and wonderful. Just a beautiful person."