When video footage surfaced revealing Hollywood resident Mark Allen Bartlett sporting a gun and exchanging racially charged insults with black teenagers on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, police swiftly arrested him for carrying a gun without a permit.

That's not enough, according to the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association, which urged Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle on Monday to add additional criminal charges and reclassify them under Florida's hate crime statute.

The Liberty City teens, who'd been blocking traffic on the Brickell Avenue Bridge, were taking part in an annual and unauthorized event, “Bikes Up, Guns Down,” protesting housing inequality. Activist group Dream Defenders broke the story with two videos depicting verbal clashes between the group, Bartlett and his girlfriend Dana Scalione.

One clip shows Scalione pushing a cyclist after they'd allegedly run over her foot. Bartlett, 51, soon emerged holding a gun and unleashing a barrage of insults. Both sides could be seen in the video using racially offensive language.

In an open letter, the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association said, ”The perverse irony of Bartlett's racist actions against young African-American boys, who were engaging in peaceful protests on MLK Day, underscores the fact that even in a city as diverse as Miami, racism is an ongoing and deadly threat.”

Monique Hayes of Goldstein & McClintock. Courtesy photo.

Click here to read the letter from the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. Bar Association

Fernandez Rundle has voiced outrage at the videos, moving the case to the department's hate crime division. In a Jan. 22 press release, Fernandez Rundle said she's ”committed to filing the appropriate charges and to vigorously prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”

Prosecutors also met with the teens late January to consider a hate crime enhancement. Under Florida law, if a crime is proven to be racially motivated it can, for example, go from a third-degree felony to a second-degree felony and bolster a sentence if convicted.

No further charges or enhancements have been levied since then, and Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr.'s bar president Monique Hayes is wondering why.

“If the situation was reversed, if one of those kids was walking down Brickell Bridge with a gun, they would not be simply charged with carrying a concealed weapon charge,” Hayes said. “That wouldn't be all they're facing.”

Even without the racial element, Hayes argues there should be an assault charge.

“I imagine that there are political as well as legal issues that go into the analysis,” Hayes said. “But when you have such a striking crime that happens in the middle of downtown and against a vulnerable population that's doing a peaceful protest, you have to take the right stand as the elected public official.”

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'MLK would be horrified'

Miami lawyer Jayne Weintraub. Courtesy photo.

Jayne Weintraub and Jonathan Etra of Nelson Mullins Broad & Cassel in Miami represent Bartlett, and they said the protest wasn't peaceful.

“These people were on bikes attempting to incite and provoke an incident, not in honor of MLK, but by exploiting his good name and legacy for their own sheer enjoyment,” Weintraub said. “MLK would be horrified having this incident associated with his name.”

Weintraub also pointed to a separate video that appeared online showing one protester urinating off Brickell Avenue Bridge. She said Bartlett wasn't thinking about race when he saw a crowd of young men arguing with his girlfriend.

“This was not a day about black and white. It was a day of lawlessness,” Weintraub said. “Our client did approach with his gun, which remained at his side at all times. It was reasonable for our client to be in fear for his girlfriend's life, and thus his actions were justified.”

Neither party is in a position to “claim the high ground,” according to Weintraub, who said her client has received multiple death threats from members of the public since the video surfaced.

Fernandez Rundle's office declined to comment on the case, pointing instead to Bartlett's arraignment Feb. 20, where prosecutors will officially lay out their charges.

Hayes also urged lawyers and nonlawyers to head to the 9:30 a.m. arraignment at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building.

“We're asking everyone that cares about this city and the youth of this city to show up and to demand that the state attorney lodge appropriate charges,” Hayes said. “There is nothing in the charges against Mr. Bartlett that reflects what he did to those kids.”

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