SARASOTA – City commissioners remained mostly silent this week as news of one of their own being involved in a fight outside of a bar in downtown Sarasota on Christmas Eve went national.
Two of the three elected officials contacted by the Herald-Tribune this week declined to comment or react to a police report and video showing that Commissioner Kyle Battie was attacked by multiple men last week after a verbal dispute that left him lying on the sidewalk.
Battie did not return several requests for comment. He also has not spoken publicly about the incident.
Only Vice Mayor Erik Arroyo agreed to speak about what police say happened on Christmas Eve and suggested that the Battie described in the Sarasota Police report — which offers conflicting accounts of Battie potentially instigating the attack — doesn’t match the person he has come to know.