Miami Beach was calm on Monday evening after raucous weekend where officials called a state of emergency and enforced a curfew to curb the wild partying and resulting riots.
Officers along Ocean Drive moved in on a crowd of partygoers after the 8pm curfew fell, as many took off running. One person was detained, but the area was much calmer than the night before, Local 10 reported.
Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, stressed in a video statement on Monday that many of the vacationers are not 'college kids on their vacation,' but rather visitors who are traveling with criminal intentions.
In recent weeks, South Beach saw brawls, crowd stampedes and police confrontations involving the use of pepper balls.
Miami Beach was crowded on Monday evening but calm as an 8pm curfew came into force
People dance and twerk on Miami Beach on Monday evening as the Spring Break celebrations continued
Revelers flocked to the beach city in Florida for the annual gathering, which has gone ahead despite the pandemic
Miami Beach police have made more than 1,000 arrests since February and at least five officers have been hurt, the department said.
At least 102 firearms have been seized from Miami Beach streets, and there have been more than 11,000 traffic citations.
Gelber said the curfew measures and heavy police presence, with five forces drafted in, were necessary to maintain law and order and limit the spread of COVID-19.
'Over the last weeks and longer, our city has been one of the only true destination cities open for business anywhere,' Gelber said.
'While most of our guests come here for all the reasons we hope they do and follow rules, there are clearly too many coming here with other ideas. And some are bringing guns.'
Crowds of mostly mask-less tourists are seen along Ocean Drive in Miami Beach
Miami Beach has long been a hot destination for Spring Break sunseekers hoping for good times in the sun
Skateboarders are seen cruising down Ocean Drive during Spring Break in Miami Beach on Monday
He said that many visitors were blase about masks and social distancing, at a time when Miami-Dade County is still seeing about 1,000 new COVID-19 infections a day and hospitalization rates have still not seen enough of a dip.
On Saturday the Miami Beach City Commission unanimously decided during an emergency meeting to introduce an 8pm curfew.
The curfew and road closures were extended on Sunday until the end of Spring Break, on April 12.
As night fell, partygoers remained on the streets on Monday but there was no repeat of the violent scenes
One person was seen being taken away by police on Monday, who have arrested more than 1,000 since February
There was a heavy police presence in Miami Beach on Monday night, as the 8pm curfew came into force
Interim City Manager Raul Aguila said the measures will seek to 'contain the overwhelming crowd of visitors and the potential for violence, disruption and damage to property.'
He added: 'These aren't your typical spring breakers.'
Two men from North Carolina appeared in court on Monday charged with drugging and raping a 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman, who was later found dead in a hotel.
Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 24, both from Greensboro, North Carolina, allegedly gave 24-year-old Christine Englehardt a 'green pill' and then took her back to her hotel in South Beach.
The two men are accused of raping Englehardt, who was visiting from Pennsylvania, before stealing her phone, cash and credit cards which they then used as they carried on partying in the spring break hotspot.
Englehardt's semi-naked dead body was found on the bed in her hotel room Thursday.
Investigators are now working to determine if her death was caused by the pill given to her by the two suspects.
Evoire Collier, 21, (left) and Dorian Taylor, 24, (right) were arrested for allegedly drugging and raping a woman who later died in her hotel room while on spring break in Miami
According to a police report, Collier told officers the two men met Englehardt at a local restaurant before giving her the drug as they walked along Ocean Drive.
The group then headed back to the Albion Hotel at 1650 James Avenue, reported the Miami Herald.
Surveillance footage taken from the hotel lobby shows the two men entering the hotel with Englehardt at around 1 am Thursday.
As they walked into the elevator in the building, the woman was staggering and Taylor was holding her from behind 'by the neck so she could stand', Miami Beach Detective Luis Alsina said in a court hearing Monday.
Collier said he and Taylor each had sex with Englehardt and that Taylor raped her as she seemed to be unconscious, authorities said.
Police said Englehardt was not able to have consented to sex with either of the two men while under the influence of alcohol and narcotics.
A cause of death is yet to be determined with the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office carrying out further tests to learn if she died from an overdose from the pill given to her by the suspects, the Herald reported.
Post a Comment