Original Blog Entry: Florida Mayor Knocked Out in Fight During Council Meeting

truesee — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 08:22:23 GMT

Altercation at council meeting sends mayor of Central Florida's Windermere to hospital

Susan Jacobson Orlando Sentinel

Updated: 9:06 a.m. Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Posted: 9:03 a.m. Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn was taken to a hospital Tuesday night after a confrontation with the husband of the town manager that ended with the mayor crashing into a table and falling to the floor, where he lay apparently unconscious.

Bruhn had just finished lambasting Town Manager Cecilia Bernier s management abilities during a Town Council meeting. He blamed her for a police scandal that has rocked the town.

After Bruhn called for Bernier to be fired, her husband, Roland Bernier, came to the podium and made accusations about Bruhn s private life. The mayor then walked over to where Roland Bernier had taken a seat.

The next thing most of the audience saw was Bruhn lying on the floor motionless on his back. Someone screamed. An ambulance arrived quickly and took him to Health Central in Ocoee. It was not clear whether Bruhn fell or was pushed.

The new police chief, Mike McCoy, later said Bruhn was awake and able to speak to paramedics.

I think tempers got out of control, McCoy said. The push, of course, was out of control.

Officers escorted Roland Bernier from Town Hall. McCoy said that police would take statements from Bernier and witnesses and forward the information to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney s Office for possible prosecution.

Bernier was not arrested.

McCoy was sitting at the table but was facing another direction when the altercation began. One witness told McCoy that Bruhn crouched in front of Bernier and got in his face. Another said Bernier attacked the mayor.

The Town Council meeting was terminated abruptly, and dozens of residents waited outside, peering through the windows. More people than usual were present, presumably to hear a presentation on the ongoing Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation of former police Chief Daniel Saylor and the Windermere Police Department. The council never got to that item.

McCoy spoke to residents afterward, assuring them that Bruhn was conscious and that Bernier would be held accountable.

Windermere Mayor Gary Bruhn is loaded into an ambulance.

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