Video Shows Florida Man Pointing a Weapon and Yelling Racial Slurs at Black Protestors
A South Florida man’s attorneys argued in court on Monday, Aug. 23, that he was acting in self-defense when he threatened a group of teenage Black Lives Matter protesters with a gun. On Thursday, Aug. 25, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Alberto Milian rejected that plea and refused to dismiss the case. In 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Day protest, then 51-year-old Mark Bartlett was seen on video pointing a gun at teen protesters who had stopped traffic in Brickell, Florida, with their bikes for the “Bikes Up, Guns Down” protest. Bartlett called the teens the N-word during the incident.
One of the teens testified in court last week stating he was “scared” when he saw that Bartlett had a weapon. On Jan. 21, 2019, the teens were protesting against the proposed Liberty Square Rising project. They were advocating to save the community where a historically Black housing project had opened in 1937. The street was being blocked by demonstrators as a form of civil disobedience.
Dana Scalione, Bartlett’s fiancé and a passenger in his vehicle, got out and confronted the teens.
“You are going to end up in jail,” she said. “Please, move your bike. I have kids I need to pick up! You guys are blocking me.” She also added, “This is not saving your cause.”
Scalione accused one boy of running over her foot with his bike, then pushed him and called him a thug as she and several boys in the group continued to yell at one another.
Bartlett then jumped out of the car with a loaded gun and threatened the boys. “Get the f–k out of here you f—–ing piece of sh-t!” Bartlett said. “Stupid n—-ers.”
Bartlett’s attorney attempted to characterize his actions as self-defense.
“They were banging on the hoods of the car. They are scaring people. They have masks on. They are scaring people,” Attorney Bruce H. Lehr said.
In the past the attorney has filed a motion for statutory immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action earlier this year. Bartlett pleaded not guilty and says he feared for the safety of his fiancée. The footage shows the teens didn’t react with violence or wield any weapons. A trial is set for December.
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