Miami Beach police said an Indiana spring breaker attempted to attract a “rebel crowd” of hundreds to a riot on Sunday night and to defy officers’ orders.
Jovan Washington, 30, faces several charges, including inciting a riot, disorderly conduct and a curfew violation.
The Sunday night scene culminated in a busy weekend in Miami Beach, Florida, where thousands of pandemic-tired tourists have flocked in recent weeks, drawn by the state’s loose virus control rules.
At around 8:30 pm on Sunday, a Miami Beach Police Department rapid intervention team responded to the 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue area regarding multiple calls to 911 from “an extremely large crowd” – approximately 400 to 500 people gathered in the area.
The crowd was blocking public roads, vandalizing properties, playing loud music, breaking into, drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, stealing and refusing to disperse, according to a police report obtained by Fox News.
The police told the crowd to disperse and leave the area, reminding them that the city was in a “state of emergency”, the police said, adding that the crowd “did not cooperate” and continued its disorderly behavior.
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The police said police officers watched Washington “attracting the crowd with music over the speakers”. They said that the people Washington was attracting were observed jumping up and down on vehicles, causing the roofs to collapse and the windshields to shatter. The police also said they had observed these people making “obscene” gestures towards the police and making fun of them.
Police officers who tried to disperse the crowd “feared for their safety” because of the crowd’s growing aggressiveness, the police said.
The officers contacted Washington on 6th Street and Euclid Avenue. Police said he was observed playing loud music over a loudspeaker and urging the “rebel crowd not to follow” police officers’ commands.
A man is in a car while the crowd defiantly gathers in the street while a loudspeaker plays music an hour after the curfew in Miami Beach, Florida, on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
(Miami Herald via AP)
The police said that the police were “in large numbers” outnumbered by the crowd and that Washington’s actions made the crowd more hostile to the police.
The police managed to confiscate the speaker and arrest Washington. He was transported to MPD prison for processing.
Washington appeared in court on Tuesday and posted $ 2,500 bail, reported WPLG Local 10.
He would have said to the judge, “My speaker was not even that loud.”
A man is arrested a few hours after the curfew in Miami Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
(AP / Miami Herald)
In this spring break season, the police made more than 1,000 arrests and seized almost 100 weapons. Things got so out of control that the Miami Beach Police brought in SWAT teams to disperse peppercorns and called officers from at least four other agencies.
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Finally, the city decided to order an emergency curfew at 8 pm, which is likely to last until April, after the end of the spring break.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.