Former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel has filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Ron DeSantis, challenging the Governor's decision to suspend him from office.
Just one month ago, Florida's Republican-dominated Senate voted to uphold the suspension. In a 25-15 vote, Senators handed a political victory to DeSantis who blamed Israel for the response to last year's mass shooting in Parkland.
In the lawsuit, Israel's lawyers say DeSantis failed to prove any allegations of neglect of duty or incompetence.
"The Senate charade was nothing more than a carefully scripted scheme to subvert Due Process by creating new allegations and presenting false facts to remove this Democrat from Sheriff of Broward County as preparations for the 2020 election are underway," Israel's attorney Ben Kuehne says.
Israel says he seeks to be reinstated on the grounds that the Florida Senate's decision was partisan.
The former Sheriff was first elected in 2012, and has vowed to run for his old job in next year's election. DeSantis has said he would not seek to remove Israel again, should the lawman win the confidence of Broward voters.
