Dania Beach Commissioner Flury Resigns Amid Stalker Claims
DANIA BEACH (CBS4) - No sooner had Tuesday night's Dania Beach City Commission meeting got underway, than Commissioner Pat Flury asked for a moment to speak.
"I did not come here to play petty politics and wallow in Internet and Twitter trash," she told her fellow commissioners. "Therefore I'm submitting my resignation to the city manager effective immediately."
Flury's surprise announcement was met with shock by many in the audience.
"As many of you know, I've had a person stalking me for about a year," she said, in explaining her decision. She said the man follows her day and night with a video camera.
"I've reached a point now where I don't even walk to the trash area of my apartment complex because I see him lurking in the dark watching my every move," she said, adding that when her brother visits her he now carries a gun. She said she is terrified something terrible is about to happen.
"This bizarre and aberrant behavior I am convinced is going to lead to some serious injury to someone, maybe me," she said.
Flury's alleged stalker is Patrick Phipps, a former political rival. He saw Flurry's announcement as he watched the commission meeting on cable TV
"I was stunned because I wasn't expecting it but I was very happy because I thought it was the correct thing to do," he said.
For months Phipps has been waging a campaign to prove Flury does not live in Dania Beach - but rather at a house in Fort Lauderdale. He has posted more than 60 videos of her that he says shows she's been deceiving the public.
"That's the truth and that's why she quit," he said.
He admits that in one sense he is a stalker.
"I stalk the truth and the truth is Patricia Flury does not live in the city of Dania Beach she lives in Fort Lauderdale and makes decisions for those of us who do live here," he said.
The 67-year-old Flury tried to get a restraining order against Phipps but a judge refused - saying she is a public figure and Phipps was doing nothing wrong. Phipps defended the use of video - which he posts on YouTube - saying it's the only way to prove she's not telling the truth about her residency.
"With the video its compelling you don't have to speak," he said. "It's there."
After Flury made her speech on the dais she got up and left immediately. She declined to talk about it today. Commissioners are expected to call a special election to replace her in the next 60 days.
