SURFSIDE, FLA. (WSVN) - The case was closed for an 18-year-old, accused of getting physical with former Surfside Vice Mayor Jeff Ross after a felony battery charge was dropped.
On March 1, Joshua Epstein was taken into custody and was charged with battery after Rose accused him of pushing him during a candidate debate at Surfside Town Hall on Feb. 28.
Epstein spoke with 7News on Monday after his charge was dropped.
“Huge relief, I mean, huge thank you to the Surfside community, thank you to the State Attorney’s Office for looking at the evidence and seeing it for the political stray that it was,” he said. “I’m going to use to this to fuel my passion for justice.”
Cellphone video captured on Feb. 28 showed Rose angrily yelling at Epstein.
“Keep pushing me, Josh. Keep pushing me. You already pushed me once, and it’s on camera,” said Rose.
“I haven’t touched you,” Epstein is heard saying. “If I did, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t push you, though.”
Although Rose accused Epstein of pushing him, the alleged encounter wasn’t caught on camera.
His mother, Eliana Salzhauer, a former town commissioner and herself a critic of city leaders, said the alleged push never happened.
“My son is a political activist in town. He’s 18, he’s very outspoken, and he’s a very outspoken critic of the current administration,” she said. “After the commissioner forum, Vice Mayor Rose came angrily charging at another resident, standing next to him and angrily getting into it with him. My son took out his phone and started recording. That’s what happened.”
Days after he was arrested, community activists gathered in Surfside and called for an independent investigation into a teen’s arrest and the former vice mayor’s actions.
Monday night, Rose issued the following statement:
“I, along with my family, am very disappointed that the Miami Dade State Attorney’s Office chose not to prosecute Joshua Epstein for battery as a felony or misdemeanor.
He pushed me. There were eyewitnesses to the incident, one of which the State Attorney’s Office did not even contact. The second eyewitness has been intimated and threatened with losing his job by supporters of Joshua. The State Attorney’s decision not to pursue felony charges for battery against an elected official as other Florida jurisdictions have done is also disappointing, especially given the plain meaning of the statute.
I fully support citizens’ rights to protest and speak out against elected officials. However, Joshua has made a habit of harassing and intimidating public officials outside of this particular incident and has now escalated to physical violence under the guise of activism. Joshua and his family’s efforts to muddy the water with contrived, conflicting witness statements along with their suspected connections to the media for bias coverage have all paid off. The decision not to prosecute has not only made all of that behavior okay, but has rewarded it. This incident has sadly shown that even if you are the perpetrator of a crime, if you have the loudest voices in your corner, you will prevail … even if those voices are not telling the truth.
Throughout this process, I have stayed silent because it was not about political gain or media attention. I chose to press charges, knowing that it would likely cost me re-election, because my safety and the safety of my family was more important. This decision has put our safety and the safety of other elected officials in jeopardy.”
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