Miami Beach residents and guests caught on causeways during Ocean Drive curfew chaos

Pedestrians returned to Ocean Drive and traffic flowed to Miami Beach again Sunday morning after Saturday night’s state of emergency enforcement eventually emptied Ocean Drive and clogged the causeways.

That second part brought more than a little fury from Miami Beach residents and hotel guests, two groups allowed to enter the city via the Julia Tuttle Causeway and the MacArthur Causeway between 9 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday.

During a special commission meeting Sunday, Miami Beach City Commissioner Steven Meiner said he’d heard from several angry residents from North Beach and Mid-Beach, some of whom told him that police didn’t even ask for proof of residency when they got to the checkpoint.

Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements said at the special commission meeting that he thought, given that the police were given only a few hours notice Saturday for the closures, police did as well as they could. Assistant Police Chief Paul Acosta said there will be a change in the positioning of the checkpoints on the Tuttle starting Sunday night.

“We’re hoping that tonight will be a different night,” Acosta said.

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By Sunday noon, hundreds of brunch-starved tourists paraded through Ocean Drive, packing the beach-side restaurants. The iconic afternoon drag show was underway at Palace Bar. Though Miami Beach police were stationed throughout the beach on their ATVs, presence of cops was minor.

But there also was evidence of tourist damage of Saturday night’s causeway clogs.

Trying to get back to Miami Beach while others get moved out

Ericka and David Collins dragged their luggage through the sidewalk on Ocean Drive Sunday morning, more than glad to finally get on a plane back to Oklahoma.

“We wanted to experience spring break,” said Ericka Collins, 47, who traveled with her husband to the epicenter of spring break madness to celebrate her marriage anniversary.

“We won’t come back during spring break,” she added. “We’re too old for spring break.”

As crowds of partiers overwhelmed officials trying to enforce an 8 p.m. curfew announced at a 4 p.m. news conference, the Oklahoma couple was in one of hundreds of cars stuck on the other side of a causeway for hours. Part of shutting down the South Beach area was closing the eastbound Tuttle and MacArthur to all but Miami Beach residents, hotel guests and business employees.

The Collins couple got stuck on the Tuttle from 11:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. after driving to Fort Lauderdale to celebrate their special day.

“There was no place to eat, no place to eat on South Beach. Horrible, horrible,” said David Collins, 57.

Residents fumed in the modern way — via social media.

“What are you doing??!!! Residents cannot get home to their children and families,” Dr. Lawrence Schiffman tweeted. “This is unacceptable, poorly planned and a dangerous situation. We have been sitting in the causeway for two hours not moving. ... What is the point of this? Why even let us on the causeways?”

Some tourists, however, saw the chaos that included pepper spray and military-style vehicles rolling down Ocean Drive as exactly what they came to Miami Beach during spring break to experience.

“I mean, that’s how it’s supposed to be out here, no? Especially for spring break. That’s why we came here. We’re from California so we flew across the country,” said one man, who did not provide his name. He was not in Saturday’s crowds, he said, because he was too high.

His friend, 29-year-old Kurtis Morris, said he was one of the ones in the crowd on Thursday and Friday, but did not leave his hotel room on Saturday night.

“It was an experience,” Morris said “I heard people out here and I am so glad that I wasn’t here.”