APOPKA, Fla. — City lobbyist and former Apopka chief administrator, Richard Anderson, bonded out of jail early Wednesday following his arrest on charges related to an April 5 hit and run crash.
His charges included leaving the scene of an accident with bodily injury, reckless driving with bodily injury, tampering with evidence, leaving the scene with property damage, and reckless driving with property damage.
His bond was $26,000.
Anderson is accused of driving a Dodge pickup truck the wrong way on a Lake County road, ramming head on into another driver and then fleeing the scene on foot, officials said.
Aside from the legal troubles stemming from the crash, Anderson also risks losing an $80,000 lobbying contract with the city of Apopka.
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Anderson claims he was not at the wheel the night of the crash, but if that was the case, Apopka government officials wanted to know who was.
They gave him a deadline of noon yesterday, which Anderson did not meet.
In a letter to city officials, Anderson argued they couldn’t force him to give up his right not to incriminate himself and should honor the lobbying contract.
Anderson told the city in the letter to wait to make a decision on the contract until the hit-and-run case is resolved, or else he could take legal action.
City officials declined to comment on the case.
“We're not going to make any comment at this time as far as the city’s response to that,” city spokesman Robert Sargent said.”We’ll let that go through the process.”
In a letter to Anderson’s attorney, the city said it’s asking Anderson to, “deny that he’s a criminal who left the scene of an accident.”
The city said its "reputation will be harmed if it permits a suspected criminal to represent its interests to state and federal government officials."
Anderson’s attorney refused to talk to Eyewitness News on Tuesday.
Apopka’s City Council meets Wednesday to discuss terminating Anderson’s contract, which expires in September.
Anderson was also a paramedic and Apopka’s fire chief for 30 years.
The victim in the April 5 crash, Michael Falcon, was seriously injured and has filed a civil suit against Anderson asserting the lobbyist was behind the wheel.
Cox Media Group
