Lauderhill vice mayor accused of domestic violence as he campaigns for commission seat

Police officers arrested Lauderhill’s vice mayor on Monday after a woman accused him of domestic violence. Richard Campbell, the vice mayor elected in 2022, identified the woman as his ex-girlfriend. “It’s a relationship that for months she should have left the house,” Campbell said. “Friends, family, we couldn’t get her to do so.” Campbell, a Jamaican-American physical therapist who has experience in social work and education, served as a city commissioner from 2018 to 2020. “You can look at my history. I’ve never been accused. My history is public,” Campbell said. “I’ve been around for 35 years, and I’ve never come across anything similar to this.” Campbell, who also lived in Cuba, is campaigning for the election of the city’s commission seat four on Nov. 3.“I’m not worried, I’m confident,” Campbell said, adding that the case was a smear campaign that was “meant to disrupt the election.” City leaders gathered as they do normally for scheduled Monday night meeting, which went on without Campbell.Lauderhill Mayor Denise Grant told Local 10 News she had no comment on Campbell’s arrest.Later, during the meeting, she led a prayer for Campbell. “We have one of our colleagues that’s not here,” she said during the meeting. “We ask for your protection Lord God, that you will protect him in this time. Lord, that you will give him what he needs to have peace that surpasses all understanding.”Campbell, the founder of the Caribbean-American Soccer Association, said he looks forward to his defense in Broward County court. “It will play out in court,” Campbell said. “The public will be aware of the results of it. I’m here, I have nowhere to go.” Local 10 News has a pending request with the Lauderhill Police Department for the arrest report.