He lost his big Miami-Dade County job after an arrest. The charges were just dropped
Curtis Osceola was named Miami-Dade County’s new chief resilience officer last month, but after he was arrested before his first day on the job, the offer was withdrawn.
On Friday, prosecutors announced they were dropping both charges — battery against his fiancée and resisting arrest. According to the arrest report, Doral Police arrived at his apartment after his fiancée called 911, and they found both Osceola and his fiancée with injuries after a fight.
Thursday, the county announced it had given the new job, the top climate change role in Miami-Dade, to someone else.
Osceola, formerly the chief of staff of the Miccosukee Tribe, said in a statement that the incident was due to his fiancée suffering an “adverse reaction to prescription medication.” He called the arrest and loss of his job “an exercise in humility and a tribulation that I had to endure as part of my journey.”
“While I have been cleared of all wrongdoing by the state attorney’s office and all charges against me have been dropped—in the court of public opinion, things are different. It is for this reason, among others, that the Mayor’s office has decided to rescind their offer to me to lead the Office of Resilience as its Chief,” he said. “While I am disappointed that I will not be able to serve the people of Miami-Dade County from a position within its government, I will continue to serve the common good by continuing to lead efforts to conserve and restore our environment.”
