Man Charged With Battery On Miami Beach Police Officers; Several Arrests Made, Guns Seized
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - On Saturday afternoon, Miami Beach Police said that the two officers who were injured during a disturbance in South Beach have been released from the hospital.
Police also said they had arrested 19-year-old James Harrison from New York. He has been charged with 2 counts of battery on a police officer and other charges.
Authorities also said a man was attacked on Friday night in the alleyway of 8 Street and Collins Court while large crowds were gathered.
He was transported to Mount Sinai hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Police said 55-year-old Kenneth Adams was located, arrested, and charged with aggravated battery on a person older than 65. The weapon, a broken wooden chair leg was discovered at the scene and impounded.
Authorities said several firearms were taken off our streets on Friday evening.
Miami Beach police said that from Monday, March 8 until Saturday morning, March 13:
• 119 Arrests – 42 were felonies
• 13 Firearms Seized
• 866 Traffic Citations issued
On Friday evening, Miami Beach police said officers were dealing with very large crowds near 8th Street and Ocean Drive.
They say that officers were forced to utilize pepper balls to disperse people that had gathered while a subject was being taken into custody.
Police said the crowd was disorderly and that at some point had surrounded police officers.
Authorities said several people had been detained.
In February, Miami Beach police had said they are braced for this year's spring break, which actually started February 15th and runs through mid-April, and are reconfiguring the shifts of officers for an eight-week period.
Miami Beach Police Chief Rick Clements also had some strong words, saying, "If you are coming down here to be disruptive and break the rules we are going to stop you."
In January, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber had a message to unruly spring breakers:
"If people are coming here to go crazy please don't, go somewhere else. If you're coming here because you think we don't have rules with regard to COVID, go somewhere else as well," he said.