Broward corrections holds ex-sergeant without bond after 4th arrest in 7 months

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Corrections was holding a former Broward Sheriff’s Office sergeant without bond on Tuesday afternoon at the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, according to inmate records.

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On Monday, in Broward County bond court, Scott N. Nida, who worked for BSO for more than 21 years, stood before Broward County Circuit Judge Corey B. Friedman, wearing an anti-suicide smock.

Nida shook his head and covered his face with both hands, as a prosecutor told Friedman that the law enforcement veteran had violated a judge’s orders to stay away from a domestic violence victim.

“I am ordering no victim contact,” Friedman told Nida in court. “I don’t know what else I can say.”

EX-BSO DEPUTY ARRESTED: Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Scott Nida on Jan. 7, April 20, May 17, and on Saturday — his fourth arrest in seven months, records show.

BSO deputies had arrested Nida on Jan. 7, April 20, May 17, and on Saturday —his fourth arrest in seven months, records show.

Records show the first two arrests were after Nida was accused of battering the same woman, and the last two arrests were after Nida was accused of violating a judge’s order to stay away from her.

“While strangling her,” Nida “pushed” the woman “to the ground and dragged her across the front lawn,” a deputy wrote, according to the Jan. 7 arrest report.

BSO hired Nida on Jan. 18, 2005, just two days after his 34th birthday. He had been working at Port Everglades when BSO placed him on administrative leave after the Jan. 7 arrest.

Nida “forcibly grabbed the back of her head and began to punch her face and head multiple times … to the point she started bleeding,” a deputy wrote, according to the April 20 arrest report.

Nida’s employment with BSO ended on June 29, after his third arrest on May 17.

A deputy reported the woman, identified as the domestic violence victim on Jan. 7 and April 20, said she and her 16-year-old daughter had moved back in with Nida in Pompano Beach, records show.

Records show the evidence against Nida includes text messages that the woman sent her daughter with pictures of her injuries on Jan. 7, and surveillance video showing her “screaming for help” on April 20.

The woman “expressed she was extremely in fear” of Nida “and feared for her life … she felt coerced into dropping the charges,” a deputy wrote, according to the arrest report on April 20.

After a welfare check on Saturday, deputies reported finding the woman and her teenage daughter were still living with Nida despite the judge’s order and his arrest on May 17, according to the arrest report.

On Tuesday, Nida faced a charge of violation of the injunction for protection against domestic violence. Friedman set his bond for the first-degree misdemeanor at $10,000.

Friedman denied Nida’s bond for five charges: Grand theft auto, battery, robbery, false imprisonment, and tampering with a witness, victim, or informant.

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