Ramon Jesurun, the president of the Colombian Football Federation and a CONMEBOL vice president, was arrested by the Miami-Dade Police Department early on Monday morning in Miami Gardens, hours after his national team lost to Argentina in the Copa America final that was plagued by disorder.
Jesurun is facing three felony counts of battery on a specified official or employee, per WPLG, Miami’s ABC affiliate. The event seemed to take place during the final, which concluded around midnight local time. Jesurun was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center just after 4:15 a.m. and his son, Ramon Jamil Jesurun, was booked just minutes later. The president’s son faces the same charges, as well as an additional misdemeanor battery charge.
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Jesurun’s son appeared in Miami-Dade bond court on Monday afternoon for a hearing in which no bond was ordered but a stay away order in favor of the victim was. The president is also expected to appear in court on Monday afternoon.
The Copa America final descended into chaos two hours before it was originally set to kick off at 8 p.m. on Sunday as ticketless fans breached security and evaded staff checking tickets. The gates were subsequently closed and did not properly reopen until around 7:30 p.m., when stadium staff let people in without checking tickets, causing overcrowding inside Hard Rock Stadium. The situation caused kickoff to be delayed by more than an hour and briefly forced officials to place the stadium under lockdown.
At least 10 people were arrested before kickoff, though it is unclear how many more were after the early moments of the event.
Argentina beat Colombia in extra time, courtesy of a goal from golden boot winner Lautaro Martinez in the 112th minute. This was Colombia’s first trip to the final since 2001, when they won their only Copa America title to date.
