MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A man is recovering after he was assaulted by a gang of teens on busy Collins Avenue in broad daylight.
So far, Miami Beach police have made 1 arrest – a 13-year-old has been charged with battery.
A group of teenagers were riding bikes wildly down 9th Street heading toward Collins Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.
Daniel Ciforelli said that the teens rode by his friend. “I guess they bumped into him and they weren’t letting him by,” Ciforelli said. “I turned and said, ‘Get out of here, children.’ And they said, ‘What?’ "
Ciforelli said he tried to run.
“(I had) an instant pit in my stomach. I didn’t know where to go, where to run, they were surrounding me,” he said.
The next thing the 34-year-old knew, the group of teens had begun brutally beating him.
“I don’t know where anything was coming from at that point. All I was doing was covering my face and protecting myself. I had a sharp pain. I thought someone had a knife and slashed me.”
Ciforelli said he was punched and punched over and over again. He was slammed to the ground and thrown into bushes.
It is the latest incident in what has become an out of control spring break on Miami Beach.
According to the city of Miami Beach’s Declaration of Emergency, from Feb. 3 through March 28, there have been: 1,182 total arrests with 450 of them felony arrests. Also, 116 firearms have been seized.
Ciforelli is hoping he doesn’t suffer permanent damage from the beating. “They hit my ear like 3 or 4 times and I have ringing. I feel like my ear is popping every time I swallow,” he said.
Not only is he recovering from lacerations and has scabs from multiple cuts head to toe, but Ciforelli said he’s shocked at what the city has become.
“Miami Beach is not supposed to be like this. It was never like this. It is turning into a war zone here,” he said.