MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have arrested a teenage boy after, the victim said, he was attacked by a mob of bicyclists when he tried to stop them from heckling people in Miami Beach.
Surveillance and cellphone video captured the assault in the area of Ninth Street and Collins Avenue on Tuesday. A group of teenagers could be seen hopping off their bicycles and attacking Daniel Ciforelli.
“Ten to 12 kids all taking turns going at me,” Ciforelli said. “Random fist, boom — a random fist, boom. They were just wailing on the back of my head.”
After Ciforelli was punched and kicked in the middle of the intersection, he was body-slammed into some nearby bushes. The victim said the clash began on Ocean Drive.
“Just coming back from the beach, and a swarm of teenagers on bikes doing wheelies and stuff were riding up, and they were heckling a bunch of people on the street,” Ciforelli said. “I made a comment like, ‘Just keep going, keep going’ because they’re children. I’m like, ‘Come on, children, just go.’ I said that, and then, they just all swarmed me.”
Ciforelli then ran away as the teenagers riding bicycles pursue him and take him down to the ground.
When asked what he was thinking at that moment, Ciforelli said he “just wanted to cover my face.”
Miami Beach Police officers arrived at the scene of the attack within seconds, and the victim went with officers to search for the teenagers.
“I was so dizzy,” Ciforelli said.
Officers later arrested a 13-year-old in the area of 11th Street and Washington Avenue, steps away from the police headquarters’ front door.
Ciforelli was left with several scrapes, cuts and bruises from the attack.
7News showed Ciforelli the surveillance video of the attack.
“Wow,” he said. “There’s no one helping me. In my own hell — didn’t even ask for it.”
Police said they took the arrestee to a juvenile detention center, but they called his mother before he was taken there.
If you have any information on this assault, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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