Exclusive: Woman Calls Former Mayor Accused Of Battery "A Good Man" Who "Changed"
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami-Dade police lieutenant allegedly battered by former Miami-Dade Mayor and Police Director Carlos Alvarez is speaking out.
"I feel horrible. This is a man I loved and cared for. This was a good man and he changed," Lt. Evelyn Fernandez told Peter D'Oench during the exclusive one-on-one interview.
Fernandez said she was actually in the process of reconciling with Alvarez when she was attacked in a parking garage two Saturdays ago. She said she had seen dramatic changes in his behavior since he started his bodybuilding career three years ago, but she always hoped he would get better.
"I feel very bad, I feel horrible about everything going on," she said. "I was with Carlos Alvarez in a relationship for 14 years."
Fernandez remembers the happy moments with him.
"He was a father to my daughter and he was a very loving person. He was a great man until 2013 when he got into bodybuilding when his personality changed," she said.
At that same time she was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was treated but she now has lung cancer.
She said she forgives Alvarez for this text reportedly saying he hoped she died a slow miserable death.
"With the short life span I think I have I know that he is not well but he was good to us for many years," Fernandez said.
She spoke with CBS4 before seeing a prosecutor. Alvarez plans to fight the battery charges against him.
Fernandez said she was returning his cat to him in this parking garage when they got into an argument.
"I told him he was acting like a crabby old man and he snapped and he started spitting at me and he grabbed me and started hawking," she said.
It shocked Fernandez, who's been a police officer for more than 23 years.
"The most despicable thing a person can do to another person is spit on them and I was devastated," she explained.
Despite verbal abuse that she said escalated in 2013, she and her 16-year-old daughter did not leave Alvarez until September of last year.
"I stayed with him in the hopes that he would get better and he promised me that he was going to end his bodybuilding career. And that was the reason for me staying with. And when you have been with someone so long he was so good to me and my daughter," Fernandez said. "I wanted to give him the opportunity to get better. I would love to see for him to seek he help that he needs. I have reached out to his family and his sister and his sons."
And Fernandez hopes to set a good example for her daughter.
"He's been a father figure to her but I never want her to think she can be abused mistreated verbally. It's not acceptable," she said.
Fernandez had 12 treatments for her colon cancer and faces the same amount of treatments for her lung cancer.
She's not sure when she'll be able to return to work with the Miami-Dade Police Department.
She said she takes life day by day and needs to stay strong for her daughter.