Sarasota County Sheriff speaks against removal of commenter from meeting

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office released a video statement on Friday distancing itself from the removal of a controversial commenter.

A member of Mom for Liberty's Sarasota Chapter, Melissa Bakondy, was removed from a Sarasota County School Board meeting on Tuesday by officers from Sarasota County Schools Police Department.

Sheriff Kurt A. Hoffman released a video statement explaining that the Sheriff's Office was not involved in the "unfortunate incident" and doesn't condone the removal of Bakondy.

"The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office would never participate in preventing a citizen from expressing their first amendment rights during public comment," Hoffman said in the video. "As your sheriff, I don't condone tax-paying citizens being silenced."

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Hoffman said that the Sheriff's Office has had an excellent 20-year record working with the county.

"They are professional, intelligent, and understand the constitution, just as we do. We have never had a problem and we do not expect to," Hoffman said.

Why was the commenter removed from the Sarasota school board meeting?

Bakondy was commenting on an addendum that wouldn't require Individualized Education Program meetings to be recorded unless a parent had a disability or speaks another language.

While Bakondy talked about the school board allegedly "falsifying documents and systemic corruption," Board Member Jane Goodwin interrupted her for a warning.

"Be careful. Be careful," Goodwin said.

Bakondy was about to make a comment on Board Member Shirley Brown when Goodwin gave her another warning.

"Stop talking about school board members," Goodwin said.

Bakondy continued talking over Goodwin as she asked her to comply, prompting Goodwin to ask Bakondy to leave.

"You're done. You're done, Ms. Bakondy. You cannot go and expound on school board members. I warned you several times," Goodwin said.

Bakondy refused to leave the podium after an officer asked her to leave. Two other officers approached and asked her to leave. She left, and the board took a five-minute recess.

Bakondy has attended Sarasota County school board meetings regularly and has been asked to leave meetings before.

In a meeting about mask mandates on Aug. 20, Brown asked her to leave after Bakondy directed remarks toward Brown and Board Member Tom Edwards.

Brown asked the officers at the meeting to clear the room, but they didn't enforce Brown's request. Bakondy was permitted to finish speaking.

According to Florida law, board members are allowed to request the removal of a person if they were issued a previous warning after interfering with the orderly process. Additionally, the law says that law enforcement present should remove any person ordered to leave.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota sheriff doesn't condone commenter removal