On Saturday, July 18th 2020 Jonathan Gartrelle, Lead organizer for The Sound Miami, was attending a protest at the Torch of Friendship in Downtown Miami. A "Cubans for Trump" caravan descended onto biscayne boulevard. Jonni and a few other protesters met the caravan in the street. One vehicle from the caravan proceeded to keep driving and drove right into Jonni. Luckily he walked away unharmed and unscathed. Jonni, upset that someone had attempted to kill him, began taking flags off their vehicles. Two vehicles were armed with hand guns and had them pointed at him. A swarm of cops came 10 min later and became aggressive with protesters. The police began questioning Jonni to which they proceeded to attempt to arrest him. The police did not and still have not attempted to pursue his assailants. Jonni was able to de-arrest himself on Saturday and evade incarceration that day. 

On Monday, July 20th 2020 a press conference was planned at the Torch of Friendship to demand justice for Jonni as the victim of a hate crime. Jonni, being a leader arrived early and decided to hang back in the parking lot to avoid being seen by police until a large group formed. However before any protesters showed up, he was spotted and taken by a group of police. They apprehended him and dragged him into a police vehicle. He is now facing charges such as Robbery/Strong arm (implying he harmed someone to rip the flag which he did not - for the flag he removed, Escape/Before - for de-arresting himself since he was the victim, Resisting an officer w/o violence, obstructing a public street/highway/road/sidewalk, and Criminal mischief. Two felonies and two misdemeanors for exercising his right to assembly, speech and retaliation as a victim.

We demand all charges be dropped against Jonathan Gartrelle and we demand Miami Police Department investigate the assailants who attempted to harm him immediately. We demand that arresting officers Garcia [badge number 43675] and Verne [badge number 42551] be held accountable for the unlawful targeting and arrest of Jonathan Gartrelle.