Florida Fitness Influencer Ran Over Cop with Motorcycle: Police

I just put some fireball. >> Newly released body cam video shows a. fitness influencer allegedly. intentionally hitting a Miami police. officer with his motorcycle, mowing him. down and leaving him in the street. But. not long after, both the rider and his. passenger also ended up injured on the. ground. We are taking a closer look at. this footage and the consequences this. man could face. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse.

Weber. Hey everybody, real quick. This is a Law. and Crime legal alert. If you received. Depropa birth control shots and were. later diagnosed with a brain or spinal. tumor called menioma, you may be. eligible for a lawsuit. That's right. Morgan and Morgan is investigating. claims that patients were improperly. warned about this risk. It's free to. check, just takes a few minutes, and you. don't pay unless they win. So scan the. QR code on screen, click the link below, or go to forthepeople.com/lcdepo. to see if you qualify. Personal trainer. Armando Fogasa is used to going viral.

for his ridiculous strength, posting. videos to YouTube and Instagram showing. him crushing a watermelon with his bare. hands or bending a hammer in half. But. now he's in the spotlight for another. reason entirely. Allegedly running down. a police officer with his motorcycle and. leaving him lying in the street. This. happened back in May in Miami Beach, Florida. And this led to the 37year-old. being locked up without bond. So, what. we're going to do is go through this. body cam footage. It is something to say.

the least. And I'm not going to do it. alone. I'm joined right now by Florida. trial attorney Alexis Rosenberg. Alexis, great to see you. Thanks for coming back. here on Sidebar. You know, look, bodywn. cameras, they have really changed the. game when it comes to investigations, when it comes to prosecutions, when it. comes to even, by the way, defenses, right? It's this video evidence. What's. stronger than this? >> Juries love video evidence. I mean, and. and and like you said, it's good for. both sides, not just the prosecution. from a defense. And it's very good to.

have that as well. >> So, let's go through it. So, we go back. to May 5th. Miami Beach police officer. Anthony Guzman stepped out onto the. street to stop a couple that was riding. on a motorcycle. And according to a. police report, officer A. Guzman was. stopping violators for making a right. turn onto Fifth Street on a solid red. light. Posted sign states no right turn. on red. Now, as officer Guzman motions. for the bike to slow down, it does, coming to almost a complete stop. But. then the motorcyclist appears to speed.

back up, knocking Officer Guzman over in. the process. Take a look. Yeah, I'm okay. [Music]. [Applause].

Thank you, sir. >> Now, here's the problem. You might be. saying, "Oh, it was an accident. Maybe. the, you know, he stepped on the. accelerator too fast." I don't know. Problem is the motorcyclist doesn't stop. to check on the officer. Takes off. Officer Guzman radios in what just. happened in the hopes that another. officer might be able to pick up the. pursuit. >> I just shot by a vehicle from me. westbound, the MacArthur. Uh, it's going to be a motorcycle gray. color occupied by two driver has a.

helmet. Can you help us? >> Alexis, that's that's a problem, right? That video seems pretty blatant. I think. it kind of would be hard to argue that. maybe the writer didn't see what was. going on. Didn't know what happened. Something like that. That video seems. pretty straightforward. No. Well, I mean the video is a little. unclear because you're seeing it from. the body cam perspective, you know, opposed to if it was coming from a.

building where we were seeing all. angles. He is stating that he did not mean to. hit the officer. I could see a situation. where he was definitely trying to. escape, but he was trying to go around. the officer and not hit him. But the. bottom line is he did hit the officer. with the motorcycle. So, in other words, let's be clear about this. It's going to. be hard to say that because he was. slowing down, right? It wasn't like he. just never stopped and didn't know that.

he was being summoned to stop. The the. it appears to slow down and then take. off. So, the the very least would be, hey, he knew he was about to get a. ticket of some kind, which by the way, I. probably wouldn't have been that big of. a violation, um a traffic violation. took off but didn't know that he hit the. officer. So that's probably the best. defense. >> Well, I mean the the the bottom line is. he was fleeing and during fleeing he hit. the officer. So I don't know if you.

could use that as a defense. His. attorney has gone into court and said. that it was never his intention to hit. that officer. But we still have the fact. that he fleed the scene of the accident. uh he ended up getting into uh you know. a subsequent accident where he the. motorcycle. >> let's talk about that let's talk about. that because what could have just you. know been a ticket right little ticket. now it's escalated because the. motorcyclist made things apparently a. lot worse for everyone. Okay, we're.

going to talk about why. But soon, the. area is swarming with police officers. checking in on their brother in blue, hunting for a motorcycle with two people. on it. And a witness who had been. sitting at a nearby traffic light was. able to give first responders more. details. >> Hit him. They almost fell off their. bike, got situated. It was a guy and a. girl on the back and it had a little. >> So, it was a guy and a girl on that one. Was it a scooter or was it. >> No, it was a motorcycle. >> What color was it? >> It was a motorcycle. Black, I think. And.

she also described what she saw the. motorcyclist and rider wearing, giving. officers a pretty good idea of who and. what they were looking for. So, Alexis, now it's not just a body cam. Now you. have an eyewitness, which again, critical piece of evidence. >> Well, exactly. We we now we have. multiple layers. I mean, I don't think. he has a very strong defense. I mean, ultimately, he'll he'll probably plead. this out, but I'm sure we're going to. get to this. He has bigger fish to fry. on another another matter. But um yeah,

we now have the video. We have witnesses. saying that it appeared to them that he. did hit the We don't know what his. intent was, but he did it appeared to. the witness to intentionally hit the. officer. >> Okay. So then soon calls came in over. the radio that there had been a wreck. just a few miles away on the MacArthur. Causeway and a Silver Triumph motorcycle. had apparently hit multiple vehicles, injuring both the motorcyclist and his. passenger. According to the police. report, quote, "The investigation later.

on revealed that he fled at a high rate. of speed westbound on MacArthur Causeway. after hitting the officer. Defendant. passed other vehicles on the causeway on. the right shoulder marked bicycle lane. Defendant was also caught on video. running the red light at MacArthur and. Palm Island at a high rate of speed. So, an officer drove the eyewitness to the. scene of the crash where she confirmed. that the suspects were who she had seen. hit the officer. And according to. police, the officer himself was actually. driven past the scene of the crash on.

the way to the hospital. The report. reads, "While Miami Beach Fire Rescue. number 11 was transporting officer A. Guzman to Jackson Hospital, they stopped. at the scene of the crash. Officer A. Guzman was able to look out the window. of the rescue unit and identified the. defendant as the driver of the vehicle. that struck him. Officer Guzman. reportedly had broken ribs and serious. bruising." Lexis, back to you. Now, we. have another identification from the. alleged victim themselves on the way to. the hospital. um this has now just.

escalated a further step and and that's. by the way we talk about unfortunately. on sidebar so many times where you don't. have an identification from the victim. because the consequences are dire and. they're in either in critical condition. or they're deceased but now you have a a. very seriously injured officer who's. able to go to this next stage and make. the identification. Well, I mean, this this goes towards the. fact that it was the same bike that we.

see in the video that he stopped and it. wasn't another bike or another. individual that was involved in that. subsequent accident, which is very. important for the prosecution. Um, I. mean, this is a strong case with the. video. They've made that that. connection. And like I said before, the. fact that he believes the the um. defendant believes that he wasn't. intending to hit him isn't really. relevant when you put it together to. with all the other factors that are. here. The fleeing, the reckless driving,

the the subsequent accident, the all the. eyewitness testimony, the the acting the. charge of acting recklessly, driving. recklessly. coupled all that together, it doesn't, you know, his attorney. saying that probably isn't if this goes. before a jury, which I don't necessarily. think it will. I think it'll be played. out before that, that he um, you know, that they're going to necessarily. believe that because of all of his other. actions. Like you said before, Jesse, if. he would have hit him and then stopped.

and been like, "Oh my gosh, I didn't. mean to do that." That would be a. completely different scenario. So at. this point the suspect again identified. as Armando Fagasa was arrested. Take off your back. Stand up for me real. quick. >> I'm okay. >> Put your hands behind your back. You. just going to be the same for now, right? >> Do you have any firearms or anything.

like that on you? 984. that was accidentally. just. traffic.

015. >> Yeah. Where's the first unit that has. the 19. over there. >> All right, we're going to stop there. first for a minute. >> You probably see it in the video. While. he had Fagasa had some road rash, he. wasn't seriously injured. But his.

passenger, who police say is his wife, you could see her lying on the ground. waiting to be seen by paramedics. >> All right. Hey, Mommy. How you doing? >> What's hurting the most pain? >> Tell me what's going.

She did have she did have a helmet. She. didn't lose. >> It's just the hip. It's just the hip. >> Okay, mom. We're going to take it off. [Music]. >> Hey, we have to wait a little bit. Okay, >> we have a unit coming over cuz they're. possibly involved in a in a class and.

involved in another office. 11:00.

on that wheel. city of Miami. Take care of it. Whatever.

>> A couple minutes now. >> They will be here in a minute. We're not. going anywhere. We'll be right there. >> Okay. Now, she was apparently taken to a.

trauma hospital where she reportedly. told police her husband was driving the. motorcycle when the officer tried to. stop them. According to NBC Miami, she. reportedly told officers that she and. Fagasa were late for a fitness class. that they were supposed to be hosting. And she says he was going between 80 and. 100 miles an hour when they took off. from the scene before crashing the. motorcycle, which by the way is. registered in her name. Okay. Alexis, as. far as we know, she is not facing any. sort of charges. Could that change? What.

would be the consequences or what would. be the circumstances, I should say, for. her to be facing any sort of criminal. charges here? >> Well, first of all, let's talk about is. he the terminator? He's in this this. motorcycle accident, and I think she the. wife also said that he was going like. between 80 and 100 miles an hour, and. he's just like walking around. Uh that's. incredible. uh he might want to put that. on his Instagram, but uh I'm not seeing. any way they would charge her based on.

what we know so far. She was on the back. of the car, the motorcycle. She was not. driving. Um she, you know, she wasn't. the one that crashed. She seemed to be. cooperating as much as she could after. the fact with the police. Uh so I'm not. seeing a crime there. The fact that. you're bringing up that it was licensed. in the motorcycle in her name is. interesting because you know he is. currently being held without bond for.

two reasons. One because of the charge. where we have the aggravated uh battery. on the law enforcement officer or the. Leo as we refer to it. Um, but also he's. on an immigration hold because he was. driving without a driver's license and. apparently had a Brazilian passport. So, you know, I think she might have. some issues with her her auto insurance. for the insurance with the motorcycle, but other than that, I'm not seeing any. criminal charges that were possibly be.

filed against her. >> unless she and there there's no evidence. this unless she encouraged him to speed, right? or encouraged him to take off. I. guess that would be a difference. I I mean, yeah, if we had that, but. where we haven't heard anything, right, the police officers and saying, I mean, yeah, if there was some other factors. that come out later, then there possibly. could be charges, but what we know now, it doesn't appear to be, you know, that. and and it's lucky, even though she was. taken to the trauma center, and I think.

that for a little while she may have. been in uh, you know, um, critical care, but I I don't believe she has, you know, she I I believe she's been released and. she's fine. >> Right. Okay. So, now the officer uh. takes this eyewitness back to her car at. the first collision scene where she ends. up providing more information about what. she apparently saw. >> My guess is that he's stopped him like. this and they just hit him and I don't. know where they hit him. I thought they.

ran over his leg. >> No, I mean I don't see any. >> He didn't look like he had any blood. I. thought he was. >> the motorcycle never fell it. She says. that it it it looked like if it jumped. up. >> and she almost fell off and they tipped. sideways and then he was able to ride it. back up and then took off like took off. >> So there shouldn't be any markings. unless if we see something from uh from. the officer. >> But I didn't see any blood on.

>> Yeah. And I kind of thought maybe he. would have hit his head cuz he fell back. so hard. >> Okay. But when I came back around to see. you guys and he was standing, I was. like, "Oh, maybe they nicked him." I. don't know. >> By the way, Alexis, how reliable is. eyewitness testimony when there is a. very chaotic uh scene like this. happening in real time quite quick? I. mean, I I wonder how human memory works. Is it one of these events where because. it's so traumatic, you might remember. all the details, especially quickly in.

time. It's not like she's being. interviewed a week later. or in your. experience, is that something that. defense attorneys can challenge a little. bit given the hectic nature of what. happened? >> So, juries love eyewitness testimony, but there's been studies done on. eyewitness testimony in chaotic and in. non-kaotic situations, and it is not. reliable. It just isn't. But um you know. they've done study after study and even. there she was saying she you know wasn't.

sure where he was hit was his legs ran. over I mean where was she also even with. goes towards that re liability is where. was she visually like what was in it but. as she was saying this you know if I was. a defense attorney I would argue that he. jumped the police officer jumped in. front of the motorcycle and that he was. trying to avoid him I mean there's. different defenses now whether jury is. going to buy that. I don't know. >> Well, I want to talk about, and this is. something we mentioned before about why. he would have Fagasa may have fled what.

could have been a very minor traffic. stop. So, apparently, he doesn't have a. driver's license. His wife apparently. told police that he only has a Brazilian. passport. There's no valid driver's. license and no motorcycle endorsement. So, Fagasa reportedly told police that. he didn't intend to hit the officer, but. the body camera video may seem to. dispute that. Now, he's facing four. serious charges. Hit and run with. serious bodily injuries, reckless. driving causing serious bodily injury, fleeing or eluding a police officer, and.

causing a collision with serious. injuries while driving without a. license. Alexis, what kind of. consequences could he be looking at. here? Well, he could be looking at a lot of. time in jail, but I think the bigger. issue and a lot more questions that I. have are about what you brought up about. the passport. Okay. So, if you come here. and you're a visitor, you can rent a car. for a certain amount of time, for. instance, and be able to drive in the. United States on more or less your.

passport. But it gets into how long was. he in this country? Was he on a. visitor's visa or was he here some you. know some and this is under. investigation right now had he. overextended his stay. So it's my. understanding that he he had that. Brazilian passport. I'm not sure his. status um and whether he was allowed to. drive here. But you also on top of. having your passport, if you're a. tourist for instance, you have to have a.

valid license in the country that you. are in to be able to drive here as well. So, we're not even sure if he had, let's. say, the equivalent of a Brazilian. driver's license along with that. passport. And this may be that he didn't. have any of that. It may be that he's. overstayed, you know, any visa that he's. not supposed to technically be in the. country. and that is why the motorcycle. was in the wife's name for instance and. he was probably not listed as an.

operator on that because like you said. it sounds like he didn't have that. motorcycle endorsement either. We don't. know for sure those things but the way. it's laying out and the fact that he is. on an immigration hold currently as well. that it sounds like there are some. issues having to do with him being in. this country at the time of that. accident. >> Yeah, it's true. Fox 35 Orlando has. reported that he is facing uh an. immigration hold. Uh he remains behind. bars. His next court date is scheduled.

for August 7th. It does make me wonder. though, is this a case given the. evidence that we've seen so far where. you try to cop a plea and what would. that look like? Is that even on the. table? Because I I'm I'm struggling to. find what could be a a possible defense. I mean, we talked about it a little bit, but it seems to me would a plea even be. on the table? Is that something that. could be negotiated? Or if you're. dealing with a case of a hit and run of. an officer, you know, that might not be. on the table. >> Uh Miami Dade likes to plea. So that.

there's going to be a plea that's. offered on the table. Uh you know, he's. still got a lot of different even even. if you have the defense attorney going. in and fight on that, which is the the. higher charge, that assault on the law. enforcement officer, you still have the. fleeing. You still have the reckless. driving. The driving without the license. isn't such a big deal other than the. fact it was seriously bodily harm to. somebody. So, I mean, they still have a.

lot that they could put their teeth in. But with this immigration, the plea is. going to be very touchy with what he's. able to take. because if he pleased to a. felony then even if you didn't you. didn't have necessarily you weren't here. illegally but you were here let's say on. a different status you could potentially. be deported for that. So immigrants have. to be very careful to what they plead. to. Um so that's going to take a uh you. know to be have to be taken into. consideration. But if he is just.

blatantly not here on any status that he. is here illegally, um then at that point. it doesn't it really isn't going to much. matter to him because the bigger issue. is he's going to be kicked out of the. you know the country anyways at the end. of if he ends up serving time. So. probably procedurally the way it's going. to go is he'll plead to something um. maybe not with any jail time and then. he'll be deported. That's the way it.

looks like it's going to unfold at this. point on the limited information we. have. >> Alexis Rosenberg, thanks for coming on. and breaking down this body cam footage. in this case with us. Appreciate it. >> Thank you for having me as always. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].