Weeki Wachee man charged with inciting riot, mischief in Miami during violent protest
A Weeki Wachee man whom police say they identified through surveillance video was charged with setting a police patrol car on fire and instigating a riot during Miami’s worst night of civil unrest in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s death.
Sebastian Manuel Romero, 19, was being held Monday in the Hernando County Detention Center after being charged by Miami Police with single felony counts of inciting a riot and criminal mischief. Miami police say they have begun the extradition process.
Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina said Romero was identified through video and a still photograph and without the help of facial recognition technology. The chief said police respect the rights of peaceful protesters, until they go too far.
“If anyone thought that they were going to come here and harm one of our police officers and destroy city property and think they got away with it that day, they’re crazy,” Colina said during a press conference at Miami police headquarters. “If we didn’t get you that day, then we were going to get you tomorrow.”
Colina said detectives continue to look for others who are suspected of being involved in violence and that one person who attacked an officer has been identified, but not yet detained.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by Miami police earlier this month, Romero was spotted in a crowd of close to 1,000 people who had gathered behind downtown police headquarters on May 30. Some in the crowd were taunting officers, throwing projectiles and damaging and setting fire to several police vehicles.
Romero, wearing all black with a Venezuelan baseball cap, was seen “hammering holes” into the back window of a police vehicle and smashing its windows with a dark blue cooler, police said.
Using still pictures from the video footage, Miami police created a flier with Romero’s image. The warrant says a detective received a phone call on July 31 in which someone identified Romero as the suspected offender and gave his date of birth and address. Police eventually found a witness who was able to identify Romero and he was taken into custody in Hernando County on Sept. 11.
The violent May 30 disturbance in downtown Miami — only five days after the death of Floyd at the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin — was one of several conflicts that broke out between police and protesters around the country who were expressing outrage at police brutality toward Blacks.
In Miami that night, what had been a mostly peaceful protest, quickly turned violent behind the downtown police station, when a group of demonstrators descended from an Interstate 95 ramp. Several police vehicles were set afire, and black, thick smoke billowed as projectiles like concrete blocks were tossed, injuring police who were blocking the back entrance of the building. Some stores at nearby Bayside Marketplace were broken into and looted.
There were not many arrests that evening. But a few high-profile arrests stemming from that night have proven problematic for police. One man accused of torching a Miami patrol car died in the hospital shortly after being admitted under Florida’s Baker Act law. And another man who was arrested, and accused by police of belonging to an anti-government group, actually was a member of a rock band.
Giovanni Franchesko Fernandez, 38, died in mid-June after spending a week at Miami Beach’s Mount Sinai Hospital, after being involuntarily admitted. Police released a still photo of Fernandez five days after he had already been taken into custody by Miami Beach police for acting erratically. He was wanted for torching a Miami patrol car during the May 30 protest. He died a week after entering the hospital. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still investigating his death.
The same week that Fernandez was taken into custody, Miami police announced the arrest of Marco Antonio Lopez, 21, for criminal mischief and inciting a riot. Police said he belonged to a group called the Southern Slaves who actively recruit people to “violently protest the government.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would soon tweet about the arrest, calling it proof that “extremist groups” had organized to cause mayhem at the protest.
Except, according to other Southern Slave members, the group is a band from Miami’s Flagami neighborhood whose members say they don’t love “systematic oppression and police brutality.” After receiving online venom and threats, the group’s manager demanded an apology from Rubio.
As for Romero, Miami police said he caused $1,800 in damage to the patrol vehicle, which belonged to a training instructor who teaches de-escalation techniques. Another $500 in property was destroyed.
