Photo: Amy Beth Bennett/A.P. Florida state official lay collapsed for 24 minutes outside Ron DeSantis' office
Peter Antonacci, chief election fraud official, died after heated meeting in governor's office and collapsed in hallway
Chief Ron DeSantis' election fraud official collapsed after abruptly leaving a “controversial” meeting at the Florida governor's office, then lay dead or dying in a hallway outside for nearly half an hour before he was found, an investigation released Monday found.< /p>“Archaic”: a town in Tennessee that declared homosexuality illegal.Read more
Previously unreported details of the death of Peter Antonacci in September 2022 in the Tallahassee Capitol building appeared on the website of the Florida Bulldog, an independent online observer of state politics and government.
The publication, acting on the basis information that Antonacci, 74, died after an altercation with DeSantis, filed a public records request to obtain redacted documents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE).
None of the 17 pages that Bulldog posted online confirms that DeSantis actually attended the meeting in his own office conference room, which included Florida Secretary of State James Byrd and Mark Glass, the FDLE commissioner, among others.
But they revealed other details that had not been publicly disclosed until now, including that Antonacci died after a heated meeting in the governor's office and not generally “on the job in the Capitol building” as initially stated; and that he lay undetected for 24 minutes after collapsing in the hallway immediately outside.
During a meeting, the purpose of which was crossed out from the papers, Antonacci became “agitated” and “frustrated” at various times, according to witnesses.
Bulldog does not accuse either party of criminal wrongdoing, and the documents paint a picture of frantic attempts to resuscitate Antonacci, who has heart problems in history when he was finally found.
However, the report highlights the mystery that has been cast over the incident and its aftermath, including where it occurred, who was present and why Antonacci might have become upset or angry during the meeting. Document redacting obscures the identities of all of the “10 to 15 people” reportedly present, and photographs and video of the episode have been completely suppressed.
FDLE Director Scott McInerney said Antonacci was “agitated” during the meeting, “abruptly” rose from his seat and walked out, but showed no signs of ill health, the Bulldog reported.
Glass and FDLE General Counsel Ryan Newman attempted to revive Antonacci using cardiopulmonary resuscitation and an automated external defibrillator (AED) until medics arrived, the documents say, but the device “failed to deliver an electrical shock.”
< p class="dcr-1kas69x">Antonacci, a former supervisor of elections for Broward County in Florida, was DeSantis' personal choice to head the controversial new state Office of Election Crime and Security with unprecedented prosecutorial powers following the 2020 general election.
On election night that year, the governor praised Florida's safe and secure voting mechanism as an example for the nation, but quickly took the view that crackdown was necessary after Donald Trump falsely insisted that his loss to Joe Biden was the result of voter fraud .
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A compliant Republican majority in the Florida Legislature approved DeSantis' multimillion-dollar request to create a team to investigate voter fraud, but judges have since largely neglected to prosecute citizens who voted after the state indicated they were eligible.
DeSantis insisted that voters, mostly ex-felons who believed their voting rights had been restored by the state's ballot initiative and who received voter registration cards, “will pay the price.”
A number of Republican state officials, including Byrd and Ashley Moody, Florida's attorney general, praised Antonacci after he was appointed with taxpayer money in July 2022 to curb election fraud that failed to produce any results. or notable measures exist in the state.
Antonacci's cause of death was recorded by a Tallahassee Memorial Hospital emergency room physician as heart failure due to a heart attack. No autopsy was performed.
He was lauded at the funeral as a longtime public servant in Florida, serving the state in numerous positions, including deputy attorney general and state general counsel. DeSantis' predecessor, Rick Scott.
The Guardian has contacted DeSantis' office for comment.
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