PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Pembroke Park Mayor Ashira Mohammed spoke to Local 10 News on Thursday, one day after a fellow commissioner’s call to law enforcement, claiming she had a gun, prompted police to stop the meeting and search her purse.
Wednesday night’s meeting went off the rails after Commissioner Geoffrey Jacobs, whose tumultuous time on the town dais has been documented in a number of Local 10 investigations, called the Broward Sheriff’s Office to report that Mohammed had a gun with her.
The south Broward town’s police chief, Ra Shana Dabney-Donovan, stopped the meeting in order to confer with Jacobs, who told her and the commission he also notified the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. She later searched Mohammed out of view of the cameras before commissioners returned from the recess.
But Mohammed insisted the chief go through her purse publicly in front of the commission chambers, something Dabney-Donovan reminded her she wasn’t required to do.
The mayor said she wanted to “clear the air” and prove to the public that Jacobs’ allegation was baseless. Dabney-Donovan, appearing uncomfortable, went through Mohammed’s purse, finding no gun.
Jacobs looked down while the chief searched Mohammed’s purse.
“She needed to do her job. A call was made. She has to investigate it. That’s her job,” Mohammed told Local 10 News during an interview Thursday morning. “So I’m gonna cooperate, because that’s my job.”
The call to police came soon after a testy back-and-forth between Jacobs and Mohammed — who frequently clash at town commission meetings — over allegations made against Jacobs, including that he performed work at his home without a permit.
Mohammed told Local 10 News she had no idea what prompted Jacobs to think she had a gun.
“We didn’t have any conversation at all (before the meeting),” she said.
The mayor said Jacobs said nothing to her afterward about why he called, either. She noted that the chambers were full of police officers receiving commendations that he could have spoken to if he felt fear for his life and also noted that he sat next to her on the dais the entire time.
“He should be embarrassed for filing a false report. I’m not embarrassed about it,” Mohammed said. “I’m upset about it because it’s harassment. But I’m not embarrassed about it because I wanted to make sure that the record was clear, right?”
An outside firm found in August that Jacobs, during his time as mayor and commissioner, engaged in an extensive series of “threatening, humiliating, or intimidating behaviors” towards fellow elected officials and city staff members. That led to a public censure vote by fellow commissioners.
During the meeting, Mohammed publicly chastised Jacobs.
“You have gone around and told people I have stolen money. You have gone around telling people I’m going to jail,” she said during Wednesday night’s meeting. “You have lied and accused people of having affairs on this dais and it needs to stop.”
During the meeting, she also encouraged Jacobs to seek mental health care, a position she reiterated during Thursday’s interview.
“He needs to seek help,” Mohammed said. “He needs to seek mental counseling, because he’s not a bad person, but his behavior is just insane. It’s not normal.”
Mohammed said his behavior is reflecting poorly on the town of about 6,300 people, putting its “reputation and credibility on the line,” possibly keeping businesses away from Pembroke Park.
“Everyone’s looking at us and they’re like, ‘What’s going on? This town is crazy. Oh, we need to dissolve this town,’” Mohammed said. “It’s not the town’s fault. We have one person who is basically bringing down the entire town. And our reputation (has) now (gone) from being, you know, the ‘Small Town That Means Big Business’ (its motto) to ‘Bozoville.’”
According to Florida International University, Pembroke Park was widely known by the unflattering “Bozoville” nickname from the 1970s to the 1990s, owing to its past history of “unruly politics” and “mismanagement.”
Local 10 News reached out to Jacobs for comment Wednesday and Thursday. He directed us to his attorney, Michael Pizzi, who did not return our requests for comment.
We also requested a recording of the police call, but town officials said it could not be released because it was part of an investigation.
A source said police are looking at whether Jacobs called BSO without cause.