Two men are being accused of attacking a protester who was playing Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Midtown Miami on Thursday.
Witnesses provided cell phone video to NBC 6 that captured the aftermath of the incident, showing two men being taken into custody.
According to the arrest report, Richard Dombroff was playing Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech through a megaphone in an open field across from Tap 42, a restaurant located at 3252 Northeast 1st Avenue.
According to the report, James Butler and Marlon Munoz were in the restaurant when they heard Dombroff's protest and went out to approach him, demanding that he turn off the speech using an expletive.
When Dombroff refused and walked away, things escalated, and Butler and Munoz allegedly pushed and punched Dombroff. Witnesses had to break up the scene, according to the report.
“He had like a bruised nose and a little blood on his nose,” said John Curry, the general manager of Tap 42. Curry and his staff called 911 after hearing the commotion and realizing the two suspects were patrons of his restaurant.
“The people just came up and hit him for no good reason at all. It’s something we don't support here, we don't support racism or violence,” said Curry.
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The police arrived and arrested the two men, and they were both charged with battery.
According to the defendants' lawyer, Joseph Chambrot, his clients initially asked Dombroff to turn down the volume on the megaphone. Chambrot also claims that Dombroff was the aggressor, and that his clients acted in self defense.
