A Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputy won’t face any prosecution after he was arrested and charged for allegedly assaulting a transgender woman he had initially taken to his home and kissed following a night out.
Per NBC 6 South Florida, the incident occurred in April, and that was after Lt. Daniel Chala and the transgender woman met at the E11even nightclub. Chala was ultimately arrested and charged with battery and false imprisonment. But state attorneys in a statement on Monday said they will no longer pursue the case.
“After numerous attempts to get the victim to cooperate with the SAO for the necessary pre-filing conference (a necessary part of every filed felony prosecution), the victim refused to assist with the case investigation. This resulted in the dropping of the pending criminal case,” the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said.
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According to the arrest report, Chala, after meeting the woman at the nightclub, invited her to his apartment. That was after she initially told him she was leaving.
The victim said that when they entered his home, she made her way to his bedroom after removing her shoes. Chala and the woman subsequently kissed before the sheriff’s deputy “asked the victim a question, which confused the victim due to it being previously answered.”
When the victim subsequently made her way to his bedroom door, Chala is said to have grabbed the victim’s neck with his hand and kissed her. The victim said she “decided to go along with it” as she thought the approach was sexual. But she said Chala, however, continued to tighten his grip.
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The victim is said to have begged Chala to free her, but it fell on deaf ears. The arrest report stated that Chala and the woman got into a struggle for some minutes before she managed to free herself and run “to several nearby apartment units seeking assistance,” NBC 6 South Florida reported.
A resident informed authorities that she ultimately allowed the woman inside her home after she heard the victim screaming, “This guy is trying to kill me; he has my bags.” She also said she noticed the victim had blood in her mouth before she allowed her in.
Authorities were later notified, and the witness said she filmed the woman returning to Chala’s apartment to try and get her belongings. Chala is said to have left her shoes and purse outside after he opened his door.
Chala told the responding officers that after he and the victim came to his apartment, he declined to lay in bed with her after she made that proposal. He said he then told her that she had to leave.
He also said that prior to leaving his apartment and knocking on the doors of his neighbors, there was “a brief discussion” between him and the victim. Chala claimed that besides “kissing her on the hand,” he did not establish any physical contact with the victim, NBC 6 South Florida reported.
“This person came in under false pretenses and my client escorted this person out,” Chala’s defense attorney said.
“I plan to definitely contest the misdemeanor battery, but the felony was dropped. It was a superfluous charge that was unnecessary. I did not squeeze that woman’s neck like the way she said,” Chala told the news outlet when he was bonding out.
“It’s definitely lies on her part but that’s something that will eventually be discussed when it comes to court but I was going to give a statement because I’m most certainly innocent of this and did not engage in any kind of battery or rough play with her at all, it was just a matter of her leaving my apartment when she didn’t want to leave.”
In the aftermath of the incident, Chala was relieved of duty with pay, pending an investigation. It, however, could not be established if his responsibilities would be modified if he returned to duty.
