MIAMI – More than two months after running into a Miami commissioner at an illegal nightclub, a code compliance officer who busted the party said she is having to defend herself.
Suzann Nicholson stood in front of City Hall on Thursday in Coconut Grove and said her supervisors asked her to dump evidence to protect Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla.
Nicholson would deal with it in the morning. It was a direct order and that, according to the city manager on Thursday, is all now under the internal city and police investigation.
“I find myself fighting for my job, being treated like an outcast,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson hired a lawyer and filed a worker’s compensation lawsuit alleging she was injured during her interaction with Díaz de la Portilla.
Police bodycam video shows Díaz de la Portilla was at the unlicensed nightclub in violation of the curfew on Feb. 21 at 772 NW 22 St., in Allapattah. He accused her of lying about the injury and of wanting to line her pockets with $100,000 in taxpayers’ money.
Nicholson filed a lawsuit against Díaz de la Portilla for defamation. Her attorney provided a polygraph showing she passed.
Nicholson didn’t mention any physical contact with the commissioner until three weeks later. No poke or push is apparent on the police video made public.
She made no mention of it in her initial e-mail to her supervisor, nor in copious code reports where she details the club’s multiple code violations.
“My director threatened me,” Nicholson said. “He told me I had to protect public officials.”