A national Jewish civil rights group and others are urging law enforcement authorities in Miami Beach to pursue a "vigorous prosecution" a 35-year-old man accused of violently attacking last week a Jewish couple from New York visiting Surfside.
The #EndJewHatred group and the Lawfare Project held a news conference Monday afternoon in Surfside to call attention to the hate crime incident.
NBC6 Miami and other local television stations, citing a police arrest affidavit, reported that the attack happened Sunday, Aug. 16, at 95th Street and Harding Avenue in Surfside.
The Jewish couple from New York were approached by the suspect, Jorden Stephen Perozo, 35, of Miami Beach. He was riding an electric scooter. Perozo began cursing at the couple and the Jewish community.
In a cellphone video recorded by the victim's wife, Perozo punches the victim in the head and tells him "Now you're going to die. Walk away before I kill you." He also called the couple "evil demons" and yelled about Israel and Palestine.
The victim's wife, Sophia, who did not want to be identified out of fear, told CBS4 News that the suspect "was just saying so much hate... with such hatred."
Police later found Perozo at the Flanigan's Bar and Grill on Harding Avenue. Local TV stations reported the suspect worked at the restaurant.
Perozo was charged with battery with prejudice and harassing or intimidating a person based on religious or ethnic heritage.
"This was a targeted hate crime, and it must be met with vigorous prosecution to the full extent of the law," said Brooke Goldstein, who founded #EndJewHatred group and the Lawfare Project.
"Zero tolerance for Jew-hatred must mean that every anti-Jewish incident is met with real consequences, without exception," she said in a statement before Monday's news conference.
Goldstein commended management at the Flanigan's restaurant for firing Perozo.
"Flanigan's is to be commended for displaying moral clarity and conviction by firing the attacker immediately and demonstrating that hate has no place in their business," Goldstein said. "That's exactly the standard every employer should meet when confronted with Jew-hatred, and it's why we're showing up to say thank you."
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