Police Arrest Man in Referee Abuse Case
Miami-Dade Police Department announce arrest for Jan. 8 savage attack
By Heath Hixson
The Pyramid Soccer News
Police on Tuesday arrested and charged a 33-year-old Florida man for a recent ruthless beating of two soccer referees in Miami.
Nelson Aviles-Rolon, of Lauderhill, Fla., was arrested Tuesday after he turned himself in to authorities. He was charged with two counts of battery for the assault, which was alleged to have taken place on Jan. 8, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department statement obtained by The Pyramid.
The police statement said Aviles-Rolon fled the scene after allegedly assaulting the referees, an attack that caused one of the referees to be transported to a local hospital by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue for medical treatment of head wounds. The referee was treated and later released.
“After following all leads, and with the assistance of the community, investigators located and arrested Nelson Aviles-Rolon and (he) was charged with multiple counts of battery,” the police statement said.
Allegations against Aviles-Rolon, outlined in an arrest affidavit, said the assault happened on the night of Sunday, Jan. 8, at Kendall Soccer Park in Miami, after a soccer match ended. Aviles-Rolin is accused of punching and kicking referee Yerly Briceño, a 44-year-old referee from the Miami area.
About an hour after the attack, the arrest affidavit states Briceño told police officers at the HCA Urgent Care Medical Facility in Miami, where he was being treated for his injuries, that Aviles-Rolon was a player in the match that had just ended. After the match, Briceño said Aviles-Rolon began verbally insulting him over how the match was officiated, and the situation escalated.
Briceño said he then showed Aviles-Rolon a “red card” and ejected Aviles-Rolon from the field, causing Aviles-Rolon to be suspended for the next match. Briceño said Aviles-Rolon then punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground, punched an assistant referee in the head, and then kicked Briceño in the head while he was on the ground, the affidavit said.
“My client has some sort of comfort, that justice has commenced, that this person is not out there,” said Andres Vidales, Briceño's attorney. “My client wants justice served on the criminal side, and also the civil side.”
A video posted online that went viral shows the attack. Viewed by The Pyramid, the video shows a player later identified by police as Aviles-Rolon violently assaulting both referees, with players from an opposing team attempting to stop Aviles-Rolon from further attacking the referees. While Briceño was treated at a medical center, the assistant referee who was punched did not require treatment.
A photo posted on social media viewed by The Pyramid shows Briceño sitting on a hospital bed with a steady blood stream trickling down his face from his head wound onto his yellow referee uniform.
The attack happened after a Premier Futbol League adult amateur match. The PFL is a local league in Miami. The league said in a statement posted on its Instagram account, viewed by The Pyramid, that the player in question had been expelled and the attack on the referees was “a senseless act of violence.”
Previously, a police spokesman told The Pyramid that investigators were searching for a suspect who had fled from the scene of the attack. The arresting affidavit said Aviles-Rolon turned himself in to authorities after his attorney, Rick Hermida, an attorney based in the region, had contacted the police department.
The Pyramid reached out to Hermida’s office on Tuesday evening and left a message with an after-hours answering service but was unable to obtain a response from Hermida.
Police have charged Aviles-Rolon with aggravated felony battery of Briceño, using a Florida law that specifically increases the punishment for attacking a sports official. Aviles-Rolon was also charged with misdemeanor battery of the assistant referee, that police affidavit said.
After his arrest, Aviles-Rolon was booked and taken on Tuesday morning to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, according to the affidavit. It is unclear whether Aviles-Rolon was later released on bail.
Vidales said he and his client are waiting for the assault investigation to finish before deciding any next legal steps. He said referee abuse is an ongoing problem in the area and that more people and groups need to be held responsible because they failed to take action to address the abuse, which he said was a factor contributing to the attack on his client.
Briceño wants action taken to end referee abuse so another violent attack does not happen, particularly against younger referees like his son who is a referee, his attorney said.
Vidales said he intends to take action to help end referee abuse in the region and nationally to show that there are consequences if abuse is not addressed. He said players, leagues, and field owners, such as public entities, need to understand there is a “level of accountability and level of liability they are going to be responsible for if they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.”
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Heath Hixson is publisher & editor of The Pyramid Soccer News and is afflicted by a lifelong addiction to The Beautiful Game, still counts the Chicago Sting (NASL & MISL) as his favorite team, a U-10 soccer dad, probable future part-time youth volunteer coach, former soccer referee, and a sporadic pickup player with a nagging left-knee injury. He can be contacted at info@pyramidsoccernews.com