Florida prosecutors are exploring hate crime charges against a man who was arrested on Martin Luther King Jr. Day after brandishing a gun and yelling racial slurs at a group of Black youths reports USA Today.
Mark Bartlett, 51, was arrested for illegally carrying a concealed weapon after a confrontation with a group of bicyclists participating in the “Bikes Up, Guns Down” event in Miami’s upscale Brickell area, according to the Miami Herald. The incident was captured in several videos posted on social media by the grassroots activist group Dream Defenders. In one clip, a woman can be heard yelling at the cyclists for blocking the street and accusing one of them of running over her foot. Then Bartlett appears holding a gun and shouting obscenities and racial epithets at the cyclists.
An onlooker called police and Bartlett was arrested while driving around 6:30 p.m., the Herald reported. “Why am I being arrested when those kids are free to ride around?” Bartlett asked the arresting officer, according to the Herald. “I did pull out my gun. But I never pointed it at them.” Dream Defenders took issue with the initial charges facing Bartlett, calling them “a slap on the wrist,” on Twitter.
Florida State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced Tuesday that she has ordered her hate crimes chief to investigate the case. “I am outraged at the reported acts depicted in the videos taken during this incident,” Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “I am committed to filing the appropriate charges and to vigorously prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.” Dream Defenders said in a Facebook post that the kids in the video were out in the streets as part of a demonstration for affordable housing in Miami.
The protest appears to be part of a Miami tradition in which young African-American men typically take to the streets on MLK Day to ride dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles and bicycles in an anti-violence effort known as “Wheels Up, Guns Down,” the Associated Press reported. The demonstration takes its name from a Philadelphia protest over the death of a Black biker several years ago, according to the AP.
Local news station WPLG-TV reported that the kids, ages 11 to 18 years old, have hired civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who hopes to make sure hate crime charges are filed. “Several of the children have not slept since this incident,” Angel Settle, a liaison for Merritt, told the station. “They are very disturbed with this incident. And ultimately it’s very clear that this was racially charged, racially motivated.”
