A drive-by with a toy-style water gun has landed a Miami-Dade 19-year-old in serious legal trouble, after two people in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood were soaked with an unknown liquid in what authorities are calling a bias-targeted attack.
Investigators say surveillance footage captured a person firing a water gun from a moving vehicle at victims near Northeast 10th Avenue and Northeast 171st Street on May 9. Prosecutors have labeled the case “battery with prejudice,” a hate-crime enhancement under Florida law, and officials say the investigation is still active.
Investigation and arrest
According to Local 10, Homeland Security Bureau detectives tied the incidents to 19-year-old Amir Ayesh after reviewing security video that appears to show someone using a water gun to spray people from a car.
Detectives say the two sprayings happened within minutes of each other on May 9 in the same Northeast 10th Avenue and Northeast 171st Street area. An arrest warrant charging Ayesh with two counts of battery with prejudice was signed on June 11.
Local 10 reports that Ayesh was taken into custody on June 18 in Plantation, with help from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Plantation Police Department. He was booked into the Broward County Main Jail and is expected to be transferred to Miami-Dade.
What the charge means
In Florida, “battery with prejudice” is the charging label used when prosecutors say a crime shows evidence of bias against a protected characteristic and qualifies for a hate-crime enhancement that bumps the offense to a higher degree.
The Florida statute on evidencing prejudice, s. 775.085 of the Florida Statutes, allows prosecutors to seek that reclassification when factors like religion, race, national origin or sexual orientation appear to have motivated the conduct. Miami-Dade’s offense listings treat battery with prejudice as an enhancement, and the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office says it investigates reported hate crimes and urges victims and witnesses to speak up.
Nearby pattern of attacks
The case lands just months after a similar water-gun incident in January on Mid-Beach. Miami Beach police say two teens drove up to a group of visibly Jewish men, shouted antisemitic slurs and sprayed one of them with liquid from a toy gun.
Officers arrested Michael Dean Emerson and Dominic Angelo Martinez in that case and charged them with battery with prejudice, according to Local 10. Coverage of the January episode highlighted a broader uptick in bias-motivated incidents reported across South Florida in recent months.
How to help
Anyone with information about the Miami-Dade sprayings is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys at 305-471-TIPS (8477) or send an anonymous tip online via CrimeStoppers305.com. Authorities also urge anyone targeted in a suspected bias-motivated incident to report it to local law enforcement so prosecutors can determine whether enhanced charges apply.
