Mobs of teens rioting to "takeover" Florida cities can legally be run over and also charged with racketeering, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Thursday.
"You do not have the First Amendment right to stand in the middle of the street, obstruct traffic, and threaten violence," Uthmeier said during Largo press conference, speaking days after a 17-year-old was shot during a "teen takeover" in Clearwater Beach.
"If you do that, people have the ability to run you over," he added, referencing Florida's "anti-riot" law, which provides a civil defense for drivers who mow down crowds encircling their cars. The state would also look at criminally charging these teens as adults, including for racketeering — a first-degree felony, Uthmeier said.
His comments came amid a new trend: Teenagers taking to social media to organize massive takeovers of public areas. The unsanctioned gatherings — entirely coordinated online — can take turns for the worse, resulting in blocked traffic, violence, and even shootings.
While these mobs have also swarmed in metropolises like Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Florida has seen a surge of the convocations — coinciding with the first week of summer break for most high schoolers.
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On May 31, a Clearwater Beach takeover left a 17-year-old hospitalized after the crowd swelled to more than 500 teens. Onlookers described hearing "six or seven gunshots," prompting the popular coastal city to orchestrate a heavy police presence in the days following. A 16-year-old Polk County teen was charged with attempted murder afterward.
"There were 60 cops in Clearwater Beach yesterday," Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Thursday. "They see so many of us, and they're like, 'Nope! We're out of here.'"
He outlined increased penalties for speeding in the area, plans for hefty police presence and investigations of any and all online posts threatening to deploy flocks of teens to Gualtieri's county. This includes sending officers to the homes of individual posters.
Uthmeier, meanwhile, said statewide police have disrupted "many" planned takeovers throughout Florida but didn't give specifics.
"We have seen pamphlets and advertisements for other parts of the state. I'm not going to go highlight what those are because I don't want to draw any unnecessary attention to it," he said.
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Tampa police in early May arrested 22 tweens, teens and young adults at one of these gatherings. Some have been charged with narcotics possession, unlawful possession of a weapon and resisting. Two May takeovers in Chicago resulted in 53 arrests and 13 arrests, respectively.
In 2021, Florida passed its "anti-riot" law. It was designed to combat a swath of nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. The law overhauled Florida's definition of "riot," increased criminal penalties for assaulting law enforcement officials while rioting, and allowed people to sue local governments for damages caused during violent protests.
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