MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A “screaming and ranting” shirtless man attacked multiple people, including two seniors on bicycles, on the Miami Beach Boardwalk Thursday morning, according to police.
Miami Beach police arrested Christopher David Giles, 53, of Charlotte, North Carolina, on a felony charge of battery on a person over 65 and a misdemeanor assault charge.
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Authorities said the attacks happened near 26th Street on Mid-Beach.
Police said they received multiple calls just before 10:25 a.m that a man was “pushing people on the boardwalk” and several more that a man was “attacking and pushing people off their bicycles.”
A 73-year-old man told police that Giles came up to him as he was walking on the boardwalk, pushed him down to the ground and began screaming “why did you walk into me.”
Police said after telling Giles that he was the one who did the pushing, the suspect screamed, “Why are you here? You don’t belong here!”
A woman, running along the boardwalk, told police that Giles “ran up to her in a shocking manner with his fists up in the air,” the report states. As she screamed for help, police said Giles told her “I will hit a woman, you better start running.”
She did. Police said while continuing to scream for help, Giles told her, “Better keep going, or I’m going to get you.”
An older man riding a bike told police that he saw Giles push an older woman off of her bicycle into the sea oats, according to an arrest report.
She was “screaming hysterically” for help, police said, so the man called 911. Authorities said Giles then turned on the man, pushing him down off his bicycle and onto the pavers.
He didn’t wish to press charges, police said.
Authorities said they found Giles and took him into custody.
According to online jail records, he remained in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $6,500 bond as of Friday.
A Miami-Dade judge ordered he have no contact with the victims.