Florida Woman Arrested After Being Accused of Throwing Coffee at Airport Staffer Calls Her a 'Liar': 'The Coffee Fell'
In an interview on Tuesday, March 4, with CBS News Miami after her release from jail, the woman, Beatriz Rapoport De Campos Maia, said, "Nobody threw coffee. The coffee fell."
"The lady who said I threw it was a liar. It just dropped on the floor," she added of the incident, which occurred the morning of Sunday, March 2.
"I am not crazy. We would not throw coffee. Coffee, I drink," De Campos Maia's fiancé, Rafael Seirafe-Novaes, told CBS News Miami after their release.
PEOPLE reached out to Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office and Miami International Airport for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
The couple reportedly ran late for their flight to Cancún when they allegedly attempted to force themselves through security to get onto the aircraft, the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office said in a statement to PEOPLE on Monday, March 3.
In a clip shared to social media, at least five officers appear to attempt to restrain Seirafe-Novaes. One of the two suspects was accused of throwing coffee at one of the airport staffers during the scuffle, a representative from the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office told PEOPLE.
The incident concluded with Seirafe-Novaes being escorted in handcuffs to a police car on the tarmac, as seen in the video footage shared.
De Campos Maia and Seirafe-Novaes were both charged with two counts of battery and trespassing on property after warning, according to their booking reports. Seirafe-Novaes received an added charge of resisting arrest.
The American Airlines Flight 2494 to Mexico was delayed as a result of the incident. It was scheduled to depart Miami at 9:01 a.m. ET and arrive in Cancún at 10:56 a.m. ET, but ultimately departed at 9:10 a.m. ET and arrived at 11:22 a.m. ET.
'Prior to boarding American Airlines flight 2494 from Miami (MIA) to Cancun (CUN), law enforcement responded to the gate for two disruptive customers,' a spokesperson for the airline told PEOPLE in a statement on Tuesday.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
'Acts of violence are not tolerated by American Airlines and we are committed to working closely with law enforcement in their investigation," the statement added.
Committing acts of intentional violence in an international airport is a federal crime, per the U.S. Department of Justice, punishable with a fine of up to $250,000 and 20 years in prison.
PEOPLE also reached out to American Airlines for comment on the couple's post-release statements, but they did not immediately respond.
Read the original article on People
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
An Oklahoma pediatrician is accused of staging her daughter's accidental death in Florida
An Oklahoma pediatrician was accused of murder after, authorities said, she staged her daughter's accidental death at a vacation rental in suburban Miami, court records obtained Thursday show. Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder in Oklahoma City and is awaiting extradition to Florida in the June 27 death of her daughter, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office said in a news release. The 4-year-old girl, identified in an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant as A.T., was found unresponsive in a pool at the home, but her lungs and stomach contained no water, prompting authorities to rule out drowning as the cause of death. A lawyer for Gupta said Thursday that he was disappointed the sheriff's office "decided to hastily arrest a grieving mother who fully cooperated with the police and who is absolutely devastated for the loss of her child." "We look forward to more evidence, evidence that the Miami Dade Sheriff's office could not possibly have obtained in the 24-hour investigation that they completed," the lawyer, Richard L. Cooper, said in an email. According to the affidavit, Gupta traveled to Florida from Oklahoma, where she is a doctor, on June 25 and rented a home in El Portal, north of Miami. Gupta told authorities that she arrived at the rental with her daughter between 7 and 8 p.m. June 26 after having spent the day at the beach. Gupta awoke the girl to feed her dinner at 9 p.m., and the 4-year-old remained awake until 12:30 a.m., the affidavit says. Gupta told authorities she was awakened about 3:20 a.m. by a noise and saw that her daughter was not in the bed they were sharing, according to the affidavit. A sliding glass door to the patio was open, Gupta told authorities, even though she said she had locked it before bed. Gupta "stated she then observed the 'deceased victim' submerged underwater within the swimming pool of the residence," the affidavit says. 'The Subject' stated she attempted to remove the victim from the pool; however, she was unsuccessful due to the fact that she is unable to swim." Gupta said she tried to help the girl for 10 minutes before she dialed 911, according to the affidavit. First responders performed CPR, but A.T. was pronounced dead at a hospital at 4:28 a.m., the affidavit says. During an autopsy Sunday, a pathologist with the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department found that the girl's lungs and stomach were "dry" and that cuts in her mouth and bruising in her cheeks were "not consistent" with the first responders' lifesaving efforts, according to the affidavit. The pathologist concluded that the girl was dead before she was put in the pool, the affidavit says. While the cause and manner of death are pending, the pathologist's preliminary findings indicate that the girl's injuries are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering, the affidavit says. The autopsy also showed that the girl's stomach was empty, contrary to what Gupta told authorities about having fed her at 9 p.m., the affidavit says. Gupta "attempted to conceal the killing of the 'deceased victim' by staging an accidental drowning within the swimming pool of a rental property," it says. The affidavit does not identify a possible motive. Gupta was in a custody battle with her ex-husband when his daughter died, and he was unaware that she had left Oklahoma, according to the document. This article was originally published on


CBS News
7 hours ago
- CBS News
"Alligator Alcatraz" came together quickly thanks to GOP donors and state's disaster response
In a matter of days, an isolated training airport in the Everglades where endangered Florida panthers roam became a sprawling immigration detention center christened "Alligator Alcatraz," modeled after the state's frequent responses to hurricanes and built in part by companies whose owners have donated generously to Republicans. It's been less than two weeks since the state seized the property from Miami-Dade County. Massive tents have been erected and a steady stream of trucks carrying portable toilets, asphalt and construction materials have been driving through the site inside the Big Cypress National Preserve around the clock in what environmentalists fear will have a devastating impact on the wildlife in the protected wetlands. "We are dealing with a storm," said Jae Williams, spokesman for Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who is credited as the architect behind the proposal. "And the storm's name is immigration." The first detainees arrived Thursday at the facility, which will cost $450 million to operate and consists of tents and trailers surrounded by razor wire on swampland about 45 miles west of downtown Miami. Critics denounce swamp detention center Republicans named it after what was once one of the most notorious prisons in the U.S. and have billed it as a temporary lockup that is essential to President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Opponents decry it as a political stunt and fear it could become permanent. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name. "The proposal was rolled out without any public input in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of Florida, and arguably the United States," said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, which is among environmental groups that have sued to stop the project. Some GOP donors whose companies helped build and will assist in running the facility are being given seven-figure sums. Five Democratic state lawmakers who tried to visit the site Thursday issued a statement calling it "a pay-for-play scheme to enrich GOP donors under the pretense of border enforcement." One of the lawmakers, state Sen. Shevrin Jones, posted on social media that they were denied access. Hot, humid summers; regular flooding; and wildlife that includes alligators and venomous snakes make the area where the detention center is located inhospitable to long-term living. Hurricane know-how helped speed construction For the state emergency management staff leading the project, it wasn't unlike responding to another hurricane, just with more chain-link fencing, and barbed wire stretching more than 28,000 feet, according to state officials. Florida's leaders pride themselves on the state's disaster response capabilities, an expertise sharpened by tropical storms that sweep ashore year after year. Florida had a system and a command structure, as well as a fleet of vendors ready to help set up portable generators, floodlights, temporary kitchens and bathrooms, officials said. "We understand how to act fast without bureaucracy in the face of any emergency," said Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's emergency management division, sitting alongside DeSantis and Trump in one of the temporary shelters during an unveiling event at the facility. "We're able to translate this knowledge to what we did here," Guthrie added. Human rights advocates say this is not a storm, but people — people who could be left indefinitely in inhumane conditions. Uthmeier said the location had the advantages of an existing site and a 10,500-foot runway, with the Everglades serving as a natural security perimeter. For DeSantis, the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent from escape, much like the California island fortress Republicans named it after. It's also another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily. GOP donors profit off facility Vendors chosen for the project include Lemoine CDR Logistics and CDR Health Care, companies led by Carlos Duart, a major Republican donor who along with his businesses have given millions of dollars to political committees for DeSantis, Trump and other GOP candidates, according to federal records. CDR Companies has been a go-to vendor for the state for years, and it provides engineering, emergency management and health care services across the country. Duart confirmed his companies' involvement to The Associated Press but declined to specify the services they're providing, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Asked if his businesses were picked because of his political support, he said, "we get chosen because we do exceptional work." A database of state contracts also showed that Granny's Alliance Holdings Inc. signed a $3.3 million contract to provide meals at the facility. IRG Global Emergency Management had inked a $1.1 million deal to provide "flight and operational support" services. Some of the company's vehicles were seen at the facility, according to images shared with the AP. Lawsuit filed to shut down operations In a sign of its importance to the Trump administration's immigration agenda, the president toured the facility Tuesday. The White House posted on its social media account a graphic of the president standing besides alligators sporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement ball caps under text of "Alligator Alcatraz: Make America Safe Again." In recent decades, $3.9 billion in federal and state funds have been allocated to restore grasslands in the Everglades. The ecosystem was degraded and transformed when a highway connecting Tampa and Miami was built in 1928. In response to the environmental groups' lawsuit over the detention center, the federal government said in court papers that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hadn't authorized or funded the facility, which the state built and will operate. However, Florida plans to seek payment from the federal government. DeSantis has described it as temporary, with no plans for sewers, and claims there will be "zero impact" on the Everglades. His administration reiterated that stance in court papers responding to the lawsuit. But opponents still fear it will become permanent. "If it becomes more permanent, that is a bigger concern since that permanently evicts these species from the site so they can never come back," said Elise Bennett, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which also joined the lawsuit trying to stop the construction. "Our concerns are great now and will only become greater as this project proceeds." ___ Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.


Washington Post
8 hours ago
- Washington Post
Police say a pediatrician killed her daughter, 4, and staged her drowning
Police arrested a doctor from Oklahoma City this week, accusing her of killing her 4-year-old daughter, who was found floating in the pool of their Miami rental home. Neha Gupta, 36, was arrested Tuesday and will be charged with first-degree murder, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office said in a statement, adding that officers had responded to a 911 call saying a child was drowning in a swimming pool.