An off-duty Miami officer was attacked while intervening in what was reported as a domestic violence situation outside Wynwood's The Dirty Rabbit nightclub. According to CBS News Miami, the incident occurred early Monday when a witness flagged down the officer after witnessing a man beating a woman with a belt in the parking lot.
The suspect, 26-year-old Patryk Maka from Illinois, was approached by Officer Leandro Diaz, who had a belt around his neck at the time, and whose girlfriend, Lauren Budreck, assured that "everything was okay," local officers say. Maka resisted arrest and attempted to flee, while Budreck intervened, complicating the scene with violence directed at the arresting officer, as reported by CBS News Miami. Maka allegedly grabbed the officer's Taser in a confrontation that continued to escalate.
Authorities established a perimeter and eventually apprehended both Maka and Budreck near the scene, who were then transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Details from the arrest report cited by Local 10 News suggest that during the arrest attempt, Maka grabbed onto a metal fence to prevent being handcuffed and swung his arms, prompting Officer Diaz to deploy his Taser.
In court, Maka offered an explanation for the belt incident, emphasizing to Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer, "I have a whole reasoning behind the belt around the neck," as he claimed during the hearing. His attorney, Bijan Parwaresch, suggested the incident was a misunderstanding and questioned the credibility of the witness who reported the violence. "This was just a misunderstanding," Parwaresch reiterated, hinting at the existence of surveillance video that might shed further light on the incident, as gathered from Maka's statements in a court hearing reported by Local 10 News.
Officer Diaz reportedly suffered injuries in the altercation, with Maka allegedly punching him in the eye and Budreck striking and kicking him. Another officer located and pursued Maka following a brief chase after he was found near Northwest 26 Street and First Avenue around 3:30 a.m., eventually leading to his arrest.
