The police arrested two men at the Miami International Airport on Monday after they clashed with officers.
The men were charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department. Mr. Serranopaca is also accused of inciting a riot and resisting an officer with violence.
Mr. Serranopaca and Mr.YanezSuarez were not reachable on Tuesday. It was not clear if the men had lawyers.
A skirmish that was captured on a cellphone video that was widely shared on social media took place at 6:30 pm. The airport employee called the police about a fight at Gate H8.
According to an arrest report, the employee told police that he was driving a transport cart when a passenger refused to let him through. The report said that the man, later identified as Mr. Serranopaca, broke the key and refused to leave the cart. The passenger was complaining in Spanish and the airport worker told the police.
The officers tried to calm Mr. Serranopaca, but a physical confrontation ensued.
The video showed a crowd of travelers surrounding an officer who appeared to restrain Mr. Serranopaca. The two fought when the officer let him go.
The officer and Mr. Serranopaca were separated at one point.
The officer is shown in the video drawing a firearm. The police said that Mr. Serranopaca was grabbing and pulling officers off him.
The police said that Mr. Serranopaca bit one officer on the head. Both Mr. Serranopaca and Mr.YanezSuarez were arrested.
Heavy holiday traffic is causing airports across the country to experience an altercation. Some people are rethinking their holiday plans because of the surge in covid-19 cases, but millions of travelers are going ahead.
More than 100 million Americans are expected to travel during the Christmas and New Year's holidays, a 34 percent increase from last year. The number of airline passengers alone is expected to increase.
The director and chief executive officer of Miami International Airport said in a statement that MIA is seeing record-high passenger numbers this winter travel season.
The Miami airport said it expected about 2.6 million travelers to pass through its gates from Tuesday through January 6th, an increase of 6 percent over the same period in 2019.
Mr. Cutié said that passenger growth has resulted in a record-high increase in bad behavior as well.
Civil penalties could be as high as $37,000 for disruptive passengers and federal prosecution could be a possibility.
He urged people to travel by getting to the airport early, being patient, complying with the federal mask law and airport staff, limiting their alcohol consumption, and calling the police if they notice a sign of bad behavior.
