Florida deputies have arrested three men in connection with a neo-Nazi rally at which a Jewish college student reported being assaulted, authorities said.
Burt Colucci, 45, and Joshua Terrell, 46, are each charged with battery with a hate crime enhancement, while Jason Brown, 47, is charged with grand theft, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Colucci, Terrell, and Brown are members of the National Socialist Movement, one of the nation’s largest neo-Nazi groups, officials said.
On January 29, OCSO received calls about 20 demonstrators rallying at Alafaya Trail and Waterford Lakes Parkway. Witnesses reported that members of the group were displaying Nazi insignia and yelling anti-Semitic slurs at passing vehicles.
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At one point, a fight broke out between the demonstrators and a passerby but no arrests were made.
University of Central Florida student David Newstat, who is Jewish, told WOFL-TV that he had driven by the group and denounced their hatred, prompting one of the neo-Nazis to spit on him as others surrounded his car.
“I’m trying to go to the store, to Target, and I’m coming back home, and I’m being berated by Nazis,” Newstat said. “My grandfather was a survivor. Other members of my family were survivors of the Holocaust and migrated to the U.S. after. It’s very sad to see people like this can be so ignorant and can have so much hatred built up in their hearts.”
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Newstat said he then got out of his vehicle, started recording the group and pushed a demonstrator who spat at him. He said the demonstrators then punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed him.
Investigators watched footage of the incident and said Newstat was punched repeatedly by Terrell and pepper-sprayed by Colucci after he pushed an older demonstrator to the ground, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Brown then stole the victim’s $1,000 Apple iPhone 13, which was later found “damaged beyond repair,” according to affidavits released by the sheriff’s office.
The next day, the group gathered on an overpass but authorities from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Florida Highway Patrol said they disbanded them.
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Online jail and court records didn’t list whether Terrell, Colucci, or Brown had attorneys who could comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
