New Port Richey mayor's wife faces domestic battery charge

The wife of New Port Richey Mayor Scott McPherson was arrested early today, accused of slapping her husband in the face at a Trinity bar and grill.

Kimberly Ann McPherson was arrested at Grille 54 about 12:45 a.m. on a simple domestic battery charge.

Pasco deputies say the couple were arguing when she struck him. However, McPherson said that's simply not true. He said she never hit him and he called the deputies' stories "complete fiction."

"The police report is nonsense. It could not be further than the truth," he said by cell phone while he was waiting at the Land O' Lakes Jail for his wife to be released.

Elected to office in 2008, Scott McPherson is not only mayor, he has a personal injury law practice on Main Street in New Port Richey. His wife is an assistant at his law firm.

McPherson said he and his wife had dinner at Bonefish Grill at State Road 54 and Duck Slough Boulevard in Trinity and then went across the parking lot for "one cocktail."

McPherson said that as they were leaving he spotted a uniformed Pasco deputy standing in the patio, so he made a comment. He's not sure exactly what he said but it was something like, "Is there a situation? Is there a problem?"

McPherson said he's not sure why he even spoke to the deputy but insisted he wasn't being disrespectful or confrontational; he was just making "small talk."

But then, he said, the deputy "came flying."

The pair exchanged words, he said, and within a moment the deputy was putting handcuffs on his wife.

Sheriff's deputies, however, have a completely different story. McPherson, according to reports, was drinking a beer on the restaurant's patio when he saw a deputy nearby and asked whether he could file a report. While Deputy Michael Shoup tried to move McPherson, 45, away from other patrons so he could get the information, Kimberly McPherson came outside and approached them, a report states.

McPherson denies asking the deputy if he could make a report.

"There's no way in the world I would ever report my wife."

Scott McPherson "was visibly impaired and argumentative," the deputy wrote, noting that the mayor's 44-year-old wife appeared to be impaired as well.

Scott McPherson started yelling and using profanity at the deputy, a sheriff's office report states, and his wife yelled at him to "quiet down," then she slapped him across the face, hitting the left side.

Another deputy witnessed the slap.

Kimberly McPherson admitted to smacking her husband, her arrest affidavit states.

McPherson says his wife didn't hit him. She might've pinched his cheek a little, he said. She put her arm around him while he was talking to the "extremely aggressive deputy" and told him not to argue.

"This guys got a real major problem. Let's get out of here," his wife whispered into his ear, he said.

"Was it domestic abuse? Absolutely not. That's ridiculous," he said.

But that's exactly what the deputy said it was before putting the cuffs on Kimberly McPherson, he said.

He said deputies on scene said Shoup has an ego problem and likes it to be stroked and the only way his wife would be released was if he made the deputy feel important.

"I went to law school and I don't recall stroking the ego of a deputy ... to be a defense to a crime," he said.

But to deputies it seemed that McPherson enjoyed his community stature.

"Do you know who I am? I am the mayor of New Port Richey, Scott McPherson, and I'm calling [Sheriff] Bob White," deputies reported hearing repeatedly.

"I am the mayor of New Port Richey and you need to take the handcuffs off of her now," he told deputies, according to the report.

One deputy asked McPherson to consider his own career "and to try to lower his voice as he made everyone in the area aware he is mayor."

Deputies also reported that he threatened that he would have them fired.

"All you keystone cops are going to be looking for new jobs," McPherson reportedly said.

The couple's 21-year-old son, Jack, happened to be at the restaurant with friends and ran into his parents. He told one deputy he didn't see the slap but told another one he did witness it.

"Jack stated he believe his mom struck his dad to get his attention because of the way he was acting," a report states.

The mayor admits he and his wife had "a few beers." But he doesn't think they were drunk and they weren't at fault for the incident. While his wife got a ride in a cruiser, he took a cab home.

Kimberly McPherson was taken to the Land O' Lakes Jail and booked on the misdemeanor charge but was released later Monday.

McPherson said he will file a complaint with the sheriff's office.

"I'm not interested in a lawsuit," McPherson said. "I'm interested in one thing and one thing only and that' is the dignity and gentle manner of my wife. She is the kindest person I have ever met in my life."