WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - The fists flew between several travelers at a Miami International Airport terminal when a brawl that involved at least one police officer broke out, ending with two men under arrest.
In the latest sign of the bruising travel season, the melee sparked Monday evening at Gate H8 and quickly escalated.
Cellphone video captured a Miami-Dade Police officer getting hit several times before he pulls out his gun drawn and points it at the aggressor.
MIA employees told police that an unruly passenger took the keys to an employee’s golf cart and wouldn’t let that worker leave.
The passenger reportedly broke the key off in the ignition, then sat on the vehicle and led a chant in Spanish with other passengers.
“We want a solution!” they shouted.
Investigators said the driver of the airport cart called police. Once units arrived, officers tried to calm the situation, investigators said.
Cellphone video showed the moment when a police officer responded and started to walk away. At that point, the unruly traveler grabbed the officer’s arm, and the officer turned around and smacked the traveler, triggering the fight.
A third man was seen getting in the tussle as well.
Police said the police officer who drew his firearm was bitten in the head during the scuffle.
Another cellphone video recorded by a passenger who later left the airport shows a police officer trying to calm down an angry crowd in the wake of the bedlam.
“Guys, if you don’t back off, you guys are gonna go to jail,” an officer is heard saying in the video.
7News cameras captured a group of passengers walking away from the terminal where the fisticuffs went down. They said they waited nearly 12 hours before they were told their Air Century flight to Santo Domingo, originally scheduled to take off at 9:20 a.m., had been canceled.
Air Century is a charter airline that travels to the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
According to Miami-Dade Police, 30-year-old Mayfrer Serranopaca and 32-year-old Alberto Suarez were both charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, among other charges.
Serranopaca, who is accused of biting the police officer, told investigators that he is taking medication prescribed for HIV.
Suarez has since bonded out of jail.
As of Tuesday night, Serranopaca has not posted bond. His bond is set at $29,500.
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