Gov. Bush Suspends Miami Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr.
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MIAMI—A city commissioner accused of trying to run an unmarked police car off the road was suspended Wednesday by Gov. Jeb Bush.
Arthur Teele Jr., 58, was suspended indefinitely without pay in a proclamation issued by Bush’s communications office.
Teele was arrested Aug. 26 on charges of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and threatening a public official, both felonies. He was elected city commissioner in 1997, and was a Miami-Dade County commissioner before then.
The commissioner was under investigation and surveillance for allegations that he “received hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for the performance of his public duties,” according to an arrest warrant. Police said the probe stemmed from his role as head of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
According to police, detectives pulled Teele over Tuesday and he reacted “in an apparent rage.”
Teele threatened a detective, saying he was “an armed man and that he would shoot” the detective if he continued to conduct surveillance of Teele’s wife.
Teele’s attorney has said the commissioner was unsure of who was following his wife and himself, and he was doing what any angry private citizen would do.
Bush routinely suspends elections officials who are charged with felonies.
(Posted on September 23, 2004)