Video shows police escorting Florida agriculture commissioner’s fiancé from resort
Update: 911 recording was obtained Monday by the Miami Herald.
Police escorted the fiancé of Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried off the premises of a Fort Lauderdale beach resort last weekend after a witness said he threw a trash can during a public argument that ended with them getting in a vehicle, driving over a curb and then heading south down State Road A1A with a flat tire.
Police were called just before 1 a.m. to the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort at 321 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. about a “trespassing/disturbance” involving Fried and Robert “Jake” Bergmann, according to a June 13 Fort Lauderdale Police report first obtained by Politico.
Police body camera footage obtained Friday by the Miami Herald shows that when police arrived, a security guard standing outside a Mexican restaurant located on the resort grounds told them a man staying at the hotel had thrown a trash can at a female companion during an argument. The two then got into a car and drove off, running over a curb and getting a flat tire, he said.
The security guard, Robert Kane, wasn’t sure who was driving. But he told police he knew that Fried is “the freaking agriculture commissioner.”
Kane’s discussion with police is partially unintelligible on officers’ body camera footage due to street noise.
Fried is the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida and viewed as a possible 2022 candidate for governor or U.S. Senate. Her spokeswoman told the Miami Herald that “an argument with her fiancé escalated further than either of them would have liked.”
“Families are complicated and she is committed to working out this family matter privately,” Caroline Rowland said in a text. “This has not distracted her from being dedicated to serving the people of Florida.”
Politico reported that Fried reassigned three aides out of her “inner circle” this week after they raised concerns about her relationship with Bergmann. Bergmann, the former CEO of medical marijuana company Surterra, now known as Parallel, told the Miami Herald that he “would never act violently towards a woman.”
“She is an independently strong woman and would never allow somebody to physically or emotionally abuse her,” Bergmann said in a statement issued through a spokeswoman. “Nikki and I love each other and are not in an abusive relationship.”
Audio caught on officers’ camera footage indicates that police were preparing to issue a BOLO — a request for other officers to be on the lookout — for the vehicle that went south on A1A when Fried walked up to where officers were talking. Fried, who is listed on the police report under a section for “additional names,” spoke to the officers, but her words are inaudible on the body camera footage.
Officers then interviewed Bergmann, who according to officers was not at the hotel when they arrived.
“We showed up but you were gone, so we couldn’t talk to you about what happened,” an officer tells him.
Bergmann — shown on the video barefoot and wearing a “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” T-shirt while sitting on a bus bench — responded that he and Fried had been in an “altercation, and I pulled up on the side of the road and I exited the vehicle and she took over.”
The officer asks Bergmann if the argument was physical, and tells him that officers received information that he had pushed Fried onto the street.
Bergmann said the argument, which he described as a “heated discussion,” was not physical.
“We were aggressive. But I was never physical with her,” Bergmann responded. “You can go talk to her. She’s the commissioner of agriculture. Top-ranking Democrat in the state. Totally fine ... Nikki Fried.”
Bergmann, who according to Leon County court records was cited in October for driving on a suspended license, told police that “she was driving, for the record.” He said their argument rated a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Police then asked the security guard, who was standing close by, whether Bergmann and Fried could stay.
“The manager said she can stay but he cannot. He damaged the property. He tossed the trash can. He ran his truck up on the sidewalk,” Kane said. “He said she was driving. She said he was driving. I didn’t see it. I haven’t looked at the cameras yet.“
Kane declined to speak to the Miami Herald Friday.
A half-dozen police officers escorted Bergmann up to the couple’s room to retrieve his cellphone and a credit card. On video, Fried opens the door and lets them in. While waiting for an elevator, Bergmann acknowledged that he had been drinking “earlier” that day.
Officers escorted him from the hotel and told him they would arrest him if he returned.
The political shakeup that followed last weekend’s events involved Fried’s senior political adviser, Eric Johnson, who told the Miami Herald that he had resigned as chairman of Fried’s political committee. Johnson otherwise declined to comment. The Miami Herald tried to reach the other two aides. One declined to comment. The other could not be reached.
Johnson told Politico that he worried that the relationship had become physically abusive after Fried told him Bergmann shoved her onto State Road A1A. Both Fried and Bergmann deny the claim. In his statement Friday, Bergmann seemed to suggest that the argument with Fried was about her relationship with Johnson.
“There was a disagreement, specifically about the very individual who is pushing this narrative, and true to her strengths and standards, Nikki removed him from her life,” Bergmann said.
Fried, 42, announced in December that she was engaged to Bergmann. Fried previously worked as a medical marijuana lobbyist. State records show Bergmann, 33, donated $51,000 to Fried’s 2018 campaign. He was with Fried in January of 2019 when she was sworn in as agriculture commissioner.
Court records show the couple own a home together in Tallahassee.
Miami Herald staff writer Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 11:49 AM.
