Mugshot of attorney Joseph Klock Jr.

A Florida lawyer who played a key role in the Bush v. Gore litigation has been arrested after police responded to gunshots at his home.

Police arrested litigator Joseph Klock Jr., after what started as a security check. Officers charged Klock, 70, with obstructing justice and resisting arrest without violence.

Klock, a partner at Rasco Klock, is the former managing partner of Steel Hector & Davis, which merged with Squire Sanders & Dempsey in 2005. The Coral Gables lawyer was part of the team representing Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who successfully argued against a recount at the U.S. Supreme Court over the 2000 presidential recount.

In 2016, a Miami-Dade jury awarded damages against Klock, finding he ignored dry cleaning invoices and paid for some services with a worthless check.

Klock, an attorney since 1973, said he did nothing wrong and claims the lieutenant on the scene had been “performing” for his fellow officers.

Klock arrived home Tuesday as police investigated a reported shooting, according to the Miami-Dade police arrest report. Klock said about eight to 10 officers in SWAT gear were inside and wanted to break into a locked bedroom.

Police reported Klock knocked on the door, called out a name and offered to unlock the door. A child was inside, and officers were poised with their guns, Klock said. He said he thought he had a key in his pocket, then realized he didn't, but knew there was one in an adjacent closet.

Police said Klock retrieved the key, then “began clenching his hand where the key was located.” They arrested him when he refused to hand it over.

Klock disputed that description of events.

“Right next to where I was standing was a closet door, and there was a key in there. So I opened the closet door, grabbed the key from the top of it and as I'm coming out of the closet with the key and starting to turn around, these guys grab both of my arms,” he said Friday in a telephone interview.

Klock doesn't deny yelling, “Don't f***ing touch me” as he was handcuffed, but said he had cooperated.

“If somebody offers to take you to the back of the house and offers to help you open a door, then goes and gets a key for the door, what would you say?” Klock asked. “If I was going to impede the investigation, I would have just said, 'I don't have a key.' ”

Klock labeled the arrest and subsequent search of his house “ a pretense” and said the lieutenant threatened him using “vile” language.

“They wanted to make a point. They wanted to let me know that they could do whatever they want with me,” Klock said. “I deal with them all the time, and they know I don't like them and they don't like me.”

Klock said he offered to let police search the house, but they insisted on getting a search warrant and “trashing” the place.

“Do I like it? No, I don't like it. Is it going to stop me from doing what I do? No, it's not,” Klock said.

Hilton Napoleon II, one of Klock's law partners at their 17-attorney firm, said the misdemeanor charges don't square with the man he knows, who's taken troubled youths and families into his home to help them “get on the right track.”

“After Joe got divorced and after Joe's kids had grown up, he had a nine-bedroom, nine-bathroom house, and he has a huge heart,” Napoleon said. “I have personally seen Joe give away his entire draw in a month to buy diapers, help people with college tuition, pay people's rent, pay people's car notes.”

According to Napoleon, police were called after an altercation between two families in Klock's house while he was at work. The Miami Herald reported Antonio Scott was later arrested for allegedly threatening a woman with an AK-47 at Klock's home.

Klock “went there to help,” Napoleon said.

Klock's lawyer, Thomas A. Cobitz of Hialeah, called the whole thing “a huge misunderstanding.”

“In my view, this 70-year-old man with a heart condition just wasn't moving fast enough for the burly police officers,” Cobitz said.

Cobitz said he suspects police faced pressure from neighbors following an incident about a month ago.

“Joe's trying to save the world. He puts his money where his mouth is,” Cobitz said. ”I think sometimes people don't understand that he's trying to help these people. But his heart's in the right place.”