SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A candidate, who was campaigning for a seat as city commissioner for Sunny Isles Beach, was arrested after he was accused of attacking two teenagers during an event at a restaurant.
Fifty-nine-year-old George Bardmesser, an attorney and author, was charged with two counts of child abuse without great bodily harm.
Bardmesser appeared before a judge, Monday morning.
“May I make a brief statement?” he asked the judge.
“It’s probably best you don’t talk about the charges,” Judge Mindy S. Glazer said.
During his court appearance on Monday, Judge Glazer set Bardmesser’s bond to $5,000.
The incident happened on Sunday at the El Tropico Cuban Cuisine, located at 17020 Collins Ave., where Bardmesser was hosting a Republican coffee meetup.
According to the arrest report, Bardmesser was sitting at a table in the restaurant when he got into a verbal altercation with several political opposition leaders who were sitting at a table adjacent to him.
As the verbal altercation became more heated, the report stated that witnesses and surveillance video from the restaurant showed Bardmesser putting one of the teens in a chokehold.
“You hit a child. You hit a child,” said a patron as Bardnesser shrugged his shoulders.
When patrons at the restaurant tried to break up the altercation, there was a shoving match where Bardmesser, the report said, “was seen on surveillance video striking the second teenager in the face.”
Pedro Vera, the restaurant’s owner who witnessed the altercation between Bardmesser and the teens, spoke to 7News.
“Before there was an issue with the other party coming in and, you know, ‘You can’t be here, you gotta get out,’ and everybody settled down,” he said. “Next thing you know, he’s grabbing one of the kids by the neck and then punching another one.”
Following the altercation, police arrived at the restaurant and Bardmesser was arrested. Cellphone video captured him being placed in the back seat of a police cruiser.
The two teens involved attended the event with current Sunny Isles commissioner, Fabiola Stuyvesant.
According to Stuyvesant, the arguing began near the end of the event.
“I don’t want to say dangerous was the word but I felt uncomfortable with the way they were behaving,” Stuyvesant said. “Suddenly George, he got up and went and he attacked the kids.”
Her son, Sebastian Suels, was sitting next to the teen that Bardmesser appeared to grab.
“And he walks around me, goes behind and grabs him, starts choking him from behind and then everyone starts trying to take him off of him,” said Suels. “And he also proceeds to punch my other friend in the face after the commotion was coming down.”
After the altercation, Bardmesser was heard talking to another city commissioner.
“Get the [expletive] outta here, get the [expletive] outta here,” Bardmesser said.
It remains unclear what instigated the situation or what was said before the incident.
“You just can’t take out your aggression on kids,” Vera said. “These were minors, 15, 16-year-old kids. Forget about the age, just don’t do that to anybody. It’s not being civilized.”
During a recent commissioners meeting, Bardmesser took to the podium and criticized city commissioners.
“Four commissioners put their own petty grievances ahead of the common good,” Bardmesser said. “Four commissioners tarnished themselves with dishonor, it’s a stain you can never scrub off.”
Cellphone video shows Bardnesser cussing another city commissioner at a political event.
“Get the [expletive] outta here Jerry, we don’t want you here,” said Bardmesser.
“You’re having an episode,” said the city commissioner.
“No, I’m not you’re having an episode. Get the [expletive] out of here,” said Bardmesser.
Now his charges, as a result of the video, may cost Bardmesser his political career before it even begins.
“There was no need for any of that. That made no sense,” said Suels.
On Monday afternoon, Bardmesser paid his $5,000 bond and is expected to be released from jail. Once he is released from jail he is ordered not to have contact with the two teenage victims.
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