LAKE COUNTY, Fla – Lake County deputy Keshia Rytter was suspended for five days and received a letter of reprimand on Monday following a domestic violence arrest late last year.
The disciplinary action cites “conduct unbecoming of an officer” following Rytter’s arrest by Kissimmee Police in December 2020, although the charges in that case were later dropped.
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The arrest stemmed from a fight between Rytter and her, at the time, live-in boyfriend who is an Orlando Police officer, according to an internal investigation report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s office of professional standards.
The boyfriend was staying with his mother in Kissimmee at the time of the fight on Dec. 19, 2020, records show. According to the report, he and Rytter had been living at a home in Davenport but the boyfriend went to stay with his mother after the couple started fighting. The fight was over comments Rytter made about her boyfriend’s children, calling their hair “ghetto,” the report said.
Rytter went to her boyfriend’s mother’s home after the two had been arguing over text message. Rytter later told investigators that her boyfriend had received mysterious text messages claiming to be from women asking him to “hook up” and that the boyfriend believed they came from Rytter, according to the report. Rytter denied sending the texts.
Investigators said the boyfriend’s mother asked the pair to step outside as their conversation escalated. The boyfriend’s mother tried to defuse the situation by talking to Rytter but things became heated again when the boyfriend joined the conversation and threatened to call the police, records show.
That’s when the boyfriend claims Rytter slapped his phone from his hand and took off with it, according to the report. The boyfriend later admitted to slapping the phone out of Rytter’s hand to retrieve it, though she claims he squeezed her arms to get the device back, investigators said.
At this time, Rytter drove away, but then returned, according to both Rytter’s and the boyfriend’s accounts. The boyfriend claims Rytter then ran up and punched him as he tried to enter his mother’s home but, according to the report, Rytter claims she only grabbed his shirt.
A third party, whose name is redacted in the report, called 911. By the time Kissimmee officers arrived, Rytter had left and refused to return to the home to speak with police, records show.
Rytter would later come to Kissimmee Police Headquarters where she was interviewed and arrested on charges of depriving her boyfriend of emergency services and simple battery related to domestic violence. Lake County deputies said those charges have since been dropped.
Rytter works in the sheriff’s office’s school resource unit and was assigned to East Ridge Middle School, although she won’t be returning to that campus for an unrelated reason.
Instead, Rytter will work in a “float” position that will allow her to fill in at different schools as needed.