[george wythe]

You might not believe the allegation of Teele was having sex with both male and female whores, but the fact remains that Teele was convicted of threatening a police officer. Teele was becoming unglued, and he knew that some the multiple corruption charges were going to stick.

I feel sorry for Teele, since he was a Republican and an advocate for poor folks during most of his career. Unfortuntely, in his latter years, he became as corrupt as the other politicians running town.

[Prodigal Daughter]

I doubt it. All the witnesses in the charges against his manhood and his supposed kickbacks are in jail.

Miami Official Thought Cop Was Stalker in Assault Case

Dateline: Miami, FL - 3/1/2005

Miami Herald
BY SCOTT HIAASEN

Suspended Miami Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr. took the witness stand on Monday to defend himself at his assault trial, telling a jury that he was trying to enforce the law while an undercover detective he confronted in traffic was acting like a criminal.

Teele is accused of trying to run the Miami-Dade County officer off the road with his car and making threats after the commissioner spotted the detective -- driving an unmarked SUV -- following his wife.

Teele told jurors he thought the driver was a stalker pursuing his wife and that he was merely trying to stop the man's vehicle to make a citizen's arrest.

''My intent was to stop him, get his identity and call the police and conduct a citizen's arrest,'' Teele testified.

Though cool and matter-of-fact when questioned by his lawyer, David Garvin, the commissioner was often impatient and confrontational with Assistant State Attorney Richard Scruggs, who said Teele had only to call police if he thought his wife was in danger, not engage in a high-speed chase.

''So you can do anything that's necessary now that you're chasing a fleeing felon?'' Scruggs asked.

The episode began on Aug. 24 after Teele's wife, Stephanie, told her husband she thought she was being stalked, Teele said. That morning, she said she was followed for the second time by a driver of a light-colored SUV.

Teele said he was skeptical -- until he saw the SUV behind his wife as she drove off from their home.

'What was going through my mind was, `Stephanie's right; this guy's stalking her,' '' Teele testified. ``I've got to get the police to help.'

He pulled his car in front of the SUV, driven by Miami-Dade Detective Mark Bullard, and stopped in the road. Teele tried to confront Bullard, who drove up on the sidewalk to avoid revealing the surveillance. That attempt at evasion was a ''breach of the peace'' that required him to pursue, Teele said.

CHASE ENSUES

Teele followed the detective in a tense chase threading from central Miami to the Julia Tuttle Causeway to Miami Beach.

At times, Teele said, he had to hit his brakes to avoid smashing into the detective's vehicle. But Scruggs said Teele recklessly aimed his car at the detective more than once, forcing Bullard to avoid a collision.

Last week, Bullard told jurors that he had to cross the yellow stripe into oncoming traffic to avoid being hit by Teele's car. Other officers said they saw the same thing.

Teele denied trying to hit the officer. He said he was mainly behind Bullard, who crossed the yellow line to prevent Teele from catching up to him.

He accused at least three officers of lying in their testimony about what they saw that day.

''Did these detectives conspire against you?'' Scruggs asked.

''There are significant elements of their testimony that is false,'' Teele replied.

On the causeway, Teele confronted the rest of the police surveillance team, who were tailing him as part of a corruption investigation -- a detail that is not known by the jurors in the assault trial.

Teele told the officers he was ''armed'' and that if they followed his wife again, they had better ``be prepared to start shooting.''

THREATS, NOT THREATS

Prosecutors called those statements threats. But Teele insisted to jurors that he did not intend to threaten the officers, and that he did not have a gun. When he said he was ''armed,'' Teele said he was referring to his military training; the 58-year-old commissioner is a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

The final witnesses in the assault trial are expected to testify today, with closing arguments expected Wednesday.

After the assault case ends, Teele still faces 10 counts of unlawful compensation arising from accusations that he took kickbacks from a developer receiving contracts from Miami's Community Redevelopment Agency when Teele was the chairman of that agency's board.