New York couple attacked in Surfside in alleged antisemitic assault, police say

Surfside police say a couple visiting from New York was the target of an antisemitic attack on Harding Avenue.

"He charges at me, and he starts to hit me," said the man named Abraham. He and his wife, Sophia, asked that their last name not be disclosed.

She recorded part of the encounter on her cell phone.

"He was just saying so much hate... with such hatred," Sophia said.

The couple arrived from New York on Sunday and had just left a restaurant when they saw a man on a scooter start a confrontation.  It escalated when he hurled hateful remarks about Israel and Palestine.

The man is seen throwing a punch that hits Abraham's head. Sophia says it appeared he wanted to strike her, too.

"He came after me, but then an older gentleman happened to be passing by screaming at him in Spanish, saying 'stop it already,'" she said.

Police arrested 35-year-old Jorden Perozo on charges of battery and harassment on Wednesday. They say detectives tracked him down to his place of employment: the Flanigan's restaurant on Harding Avenue near where the incident happened.

"We want to tell you here in Surfside we're not going to tolerate any of that," said Interim Surfside Police Chief Jay Matelis.  "You do any of that stuff, you're going to jail."

Court records indicate it's not Perozo's first encounter with law enforcement. 

In June, he was arrested for allegedly slashing a giant, inflatable FIFA soccer ball that was on display for the World Cup in Miami Beach.

Sophia and Abraham thanked the police for their work on the case and said the incident would not stop them from visiting South Florida again.

"The chief encouraged us to move here, actually," they said.