“I’m city council; I do what I want.”
These are the words attributed to Commissioner Kyle Battie by the Sarasota Police Department just before he was knocked unconscious during a fight outside of a restaurant in downtown Sarasota on Christmas Eve.
The quotes are from written comments to police by James Destasio, 30, whom police say struck Battie in the face Dec. 24. They were initially partially redacted in a report after an investigation by the Sarasota Police Department.
The report redacted Battie’s name and the quotes attributed to him. Sarasota police also initially attempted to blur Battie’s face from security footage captured inside Cafe Epicure.
As COVID surges, city of Sarasota renews mask ordinance
SARASOTA As the city of Sarasota ended its last regular meeting of the year, elected leaders unanimously voted on Monday to extend their mask ordinance by 60 days. The current ordinance would have expired Dec. 27.
The move came as hospitals in Sarasota and Manatee counties added dozens of COVID-19 patients over the weekend as the number of seriously ill individuals with coronavirus spiked to levels not seen locally since the summer surge.
Entering the ninth month of the pandemic, the deadly respiratory disease has claimed 389 lives in Sarasota County.
That’s 44 deaths per month or about 1.2 a day. At the same time, the county is experiencing an infection positivity rate of 7%. Of those testing positive, 7% have been hospitalized and 3% have died.