Days following a now-viral moment that showed tension between the Miami-Dade sheriff and the mayor’s office, the county’s top cop told NBC6 she looks forward to working with the mayor for the benefit of Miami-Dade.
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On Sunday afternoon, following the deadly cargo plane crash at Miami International Airport, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava held a joint press conference to address the incident.
Prior to the exchange, Carlos Suarez, the mayor’s director of communications, told the press, “we’re going to get underway in a couple minutes. It’s going to be the mayor followed by the sheriff, someone with the FAA, and then Miami Dade Fire Rescue.”
But things got awkward when the sheriff started at the podium, and the mayor’s Chief of Staff Chris Hudtwalcker approached and said, “The mayor is responsible for the airport, so I think she should speak first.”
Cordero-Stutz responded: “I know what you believe. This is public safety and I’m going first.”
In Friday’s interview with NBC6, the sheriff did not clarify why she jumped the order previously announced.
The exchange, which some argue shows the ongoing rift between the mayor and the sheriff, went viral, and prompted the sheriff to write a letter to Levine Cava.
“As the Sheriff’s Office prepared to brief the media at the scene, with media cameras rolling, someone from your staff moved in front of me at the podium and insisted that I yield the briefing to you because you oversee the airport,” Cordero-Stutz wrote in part. “… I am writing so that we agree, going forward, on where authority rests at an incident scene, so that no one on either of our staffs has to guess.”
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In the letter, the sheriff insists that “the person who briefs the public first at such a scene is the officer responsible for it.”
She went on to point to what in her view was the reason for the awkward moment.
“When the County had a police department, its director reported to the Mayor. The department was operationally accountable to your administration, and your staff could give its director direction,” she wrote. “That arrangement ended on January 7, 2025, when the voters’ constitutional decision took effect and the Miami-Dade Police Department became the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.”
See Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz’s letter here:
In her response, the mayor disagreed.
“I want to be clear: This incident went well beyond a fire rescue and local law enforcement response. A commercial aircraft overran a County airport runway, crossed a public road and struck a vehicle, killing five people and injuring five others… All airport runways were shut down for an extended period on a holiday weekend, impacting tens of thousands of passengers. A significant fuel leak raised environmental concerns and required and extended response that continued into the night,” she said.
See Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s letter here:
Both letters mentioned how the officials would like to meet to discuss future coordinated efforts.
On Friday, following a 9/11 Memorial at Tropical Park, Cordero-Stutz brushed off the incident.
“The truth is that things like that happen in very chaotic scenes,” she said. “We will continue to work together for the benefit and the good of this county.”
Following Levine Cava’s speech, as the mayor took her seat, both women greeted each other with a Miami cheek-kiss.
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