Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis’ ex arrested after attacking him outside his home, police say

The former domestic partner of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis was arrested this week after police say he attacked the mayor outside his home and violated a court order prohibiting contact.

According to a Fort Lauderdale Police affidavit, Daniel James Curran, 34, was taken into custody on Wednesday, and charged with battery on a person 65 years of age or older and violating an injunction for protection against domestic violence.

Investigators said officers saw Curran in the driveway of Trantalis’ residence despite an active protection order that barred him from approaching the mayor. 

The two had been in a relationship and lived together since March 2025, according to the affidavit.

During the confrontation, police said Curran pushed Trantalis, 72, with both hands, then grabbed the mayor’s leg and pulled him to the ground, injuring his wrist, left leg, and knee. Curran was arrested on the scene and booked into the Broward County Jail that afternoon.

Curran appeared in Broward bond court this Friday, where a judge set $1,000 bond on the contempt charge and $5,000 bond on the felony battery count. 

In bond court, the mayor said, “I thought maybe there was some way to rehabilitate Danny by trying to reconnect and hopefully steer him into counseling and mental health treatment and I failed at that. At the end, this past weekend, he threw me to the ground. He committed everything that’s in the information with regard to the violent act against me and then I realized there was no hope for the relationship.”

The court also ordered no contact with the victim, no return to the location, and no firearms, weapons or ammunition, according to Paula McMahon, communications director for the Broward State Attorney’s Office.

McMahon said the State Attorney’s Office has requested that the Governor’s Office assign the case to another jurisdiction, citing a potential conflict of interest because the alleged victim is the sitting mayor of Fort Lauderdale.

CBS News Miami reached out to the mayor for further comment Friday afternoon.