Floridas youngest mayor accused of assaulting a female veteran with campaign sign

Florida’s youngest mayor has been accused of assaulting one of his rival supporters with a campaign sign — an allegation he is dismissing as “totally unfounded political” mud-slinging.Edgewater mayor Diezel Depew, 22, allegedly clipped a woman with the sign outside a New Smyrna Beach polling site late Friday – moments before early voting for the mayoral primary kicked off, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.  It’s just the latest controversy for Depew, who was just 18 when he was elected mayor in 2022 on the slogan that “Edgewater runs on Diezel.” He has previously been accused of underage drinking and using the N-word while rapping along to songs.The latest incident came as veteran Donna McDavid — who has ALS — and another man were not happy the nonpartisan mayor was at the public library because it is being used as an early voting site.The mayor then called cops when one of his signs was moved.Depew put the sign in another spot – right near McDavid — and she has claimed it struck the tip of her nose and her chest, Fox35 reported.“He chose to put it against me,” McDavid, who is supporting Depew’s rival Wayne McCloskey’s campaign, told the Daytona Beach News Journal.“He knows me personally.

… He was pushing that sign into me.”The responding cop couldn’t confirm if the woman was struck — even though she claimed she was “battered” by the sign, according to a New Smyrna Beach police report seen by WKMG.McDavid submitted a battery report, but no charges have been filed.Depew has not been arrested and he described the complaint as a “false police report.”“This did not occur,” Depew, who campaigned on a platform to “Make Edgewater Great Again” ahead of his first term, told Fox35.“She moved toward me.

I’ve never been accused of being aggressive in my life.This is just a baseless character attack.”“This is a totally unfounded political attack,” he told WESH.Depew, whose interest in politics develo...