FILE - Fans wait to enter the stadium prior to the Copa America final soccer match between Argentina and Colombia in Miami Gardens, Fla., July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
FILE - Fans wait to enter the stadium prior to the Copa America final soccer match between Argentina and Colombia in Miami Gardens, Fla., July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Ramón Jesurún had charges of battering a security guard at the Copa America final dropped on Monday, more than a month after the Colombian soccer federation president and his son were arrested at the match where hundreds of fans forced their way into Hard Rock Stadium.
Michael Band, an attorney for the 71-year-old Jesurún, said prosecutors decided to drop the felony battery charges after carefully considering the evidence. Charges remain against Jesurún’s son, Ramon Jesurún Jr., who is scheduled to go on trial in November.
“I appreciate the state attorney’s review of this matter,” said Band, who represents both men. “Hopefully we can reach an agreement in terms of resolution” for the younger Jesurún as well, he added.
Jesurún and his son both faced three counts of felony battery on an official after being accused of fighting stadium security guards after Argentina defeated Colombia in the Copa final on July 14.
Arrest records said both men tried to go onto the field through a tunnel where media was gathering after the match. They got into a verbal altercation with stadium security who stopped them after being instructed to not allow guests in while players were coming on or off the field at the same time.
The verbal altercation eventually turned physical with a guard placing an “open palm” on Jesurún Jr.'s chest to “guide him back” and the younger Jesurún grabbing the guard “around his neck” and pulling him to the ground before throwing “two punches that impacted” the guard, the arrest report said.
Video evidence did not show that the elder Jesurún made any physical contact with stadium security or any other employees during the melee, Miami-Dade assistant state attorney Charles Heinemann wrote in the close-out memo.
Heinemann wrote that one of the security guards involved who told officers that Jesurún had battered him did not appear at pre-file conferences scheduled by the state and “has not returned our phone calls or emails.”
Without the guard's "sworn statement and clarification of his role in the incident the state will not be able proceed with any charges,” Heinemann wrote.
Chaos broke out before the Copa America final when crowds of fans — some without tickets — forced their way into Hard Rock Stadium. Crowds jumped over security railings and ran inside past police officers and stadium attendants.
Jesurún has been president of the Colombian soccer federation since 2015 and is a vice president of CONMEBOL, South American soccer’s governing organization that puts the Copa America tournament together.
The stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, which is home to the NFL’s Dolphins, will be the site of seven World Cup matches in 2026, including a quarterfinal and third-place match.
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Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report.
