Court records show four citations charging Battie with unknowingly driving while his license was suspended
Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court officials suspended the driver’s license of Sarasota City Commissioner Kyle Battie on Nov. 13 because of his failure to pay remaining fines and fees that were due after he was cited for a red-light camera violation in March, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
He has been charged four times in the past for unknowingly driving while his license was suspended, canceled or revoked, the News Leader also learned from court records. On a fifth occasion, court records say, his license was suspended for failure to complete payments in the aftermath of receiving a traffic citation.
In regard to the latest incident, court records show that, on July 25, Battie signed a document in which he swore or affirmed that he would make monthly payments on a total of $239, with those payments to be complete by Jan. 26, 2026. They were to resolve a red-light camera violation.
The document did note that an extra fee of $5 was due for the handling of each payment.
The court docket said that he owed $246 by Nov. 13.
Battie had received several reminders about his payments, provided by the Office of Sarasota County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller Karen Rushing and her staff. They were dated Sept. 1, Sept. 30 and Nov. 3, the case docket notes.
Battie had made a partial payment on July 25, the case docket shows.
After the News Leader contacted Battie on Nov. 25 for a statement about the suspension of his license, court records note that he paid the $246 the same day. The court docket says, “Driver’s License Suspension Cleared/Court Cleared.” The time stamp for the filing of that document was 3:29 p.m. on Nov. 25. The payment transaction document has a time stamp of 3:01 p.m.
In a Nov. 26 email to the News Leader, Battie wrote, “[T]his was a simple oversight on my part that has been completely resolved!!!”
The relevant citation that the Sarasota Police Department had issued to Battie said that the red-light camera violation occurred at 4:49 p.m. on March 21 at the intersection of Bahia Vista Street and South Tuttle Avenue. The citation included two photos, illustrating the violation. Battie’s vehicle was identified as a 2017 BMW SUV.
Prior citations
A News Leader review of 12th Judicial Circuit Court records found that The March red-light camera violation was not Battie’s first, the News Leader found. The initial one occurred in Sarasota in April 2013.
The first of the four cases in which he was cited for unknowingly operating a vehicle while his driver’s license was suspended, cancelled or revoked dates to December 2012. No citation was available for review in the docket.
The citation in the second incident, which occurred on Oct. 10, 2017, includes the officer’s note that Battie advised the officer that Battie “did not have knowledge that his license was suspended.” The note added that the suspension took effect on Sept. 18, 2017.
The News Leader also found that Battie agreed to a payment plan after he was cited the third time for unknowingly driving while his license was suspended. The citation in that December 2018 case had pointed out that the civil penalty of $166 was due within 30 days.
Moreover, in that case, attorney James A. Fowler, with the Fowler Law Group in Sarasota, filed a motion with the court, requesting an amendment to the disposition of that case. The motion explained that Battie had paid the remainder of the fines and fees on Jan. 22, 2021. However, Battie was unaware that the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles [DHSMV] had “used the conviction to classify him as a Habitual Traffic Offender and suspended [his] license for a period of five (5) years,” the motion pointed out.
Fowler was “aware that DHSMV will lift the [five-year] suspension if the Court amends the disposition to reflect a withhold of adjudication,” he wrote in that motion.
On Jan. 18, 2022, Circuit Judge Dana Moss ordered that the disposition of the case be amended to a “withhold,” as Battie’s attorney had requested. That order called for “the Clerk of Court … to notify the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles of the change in the disposition so that the Defendant’s driving record is updated to reflect the amendment.”
On Sept. 29, 2021, Battie had received his fourth citation for unknowingly driving with his license suspended. He also was cited for speeding when the officer stopped him, court records show.
Notes by the officer on those citations say that Battie was driving 42 mph in a 20 mph zone. He told the officer that he was “late to a meeting,” the citations said.
That day, Battie was stopped at the intersection of Cocoanut Avenue and 11th Street in Sarasota, the citations show.
He made partial payments in that case, as well, until he had paid the amount in full, court records note. However, as in the latest case, Battie failed to make the final payment on time, the docket says, so his license was suspended on April 14, 2022.
At 1:40 p.m. on June 23, 2022, the Clerk of Court’s Office issued a document noting that the last payment had been provided, so Battie’s driver’s license had been restored.