Congressman’s son arrested for slapping Miami commissioner

Carlos J Gimenez charged after incident with Alex Diaz de la Portilla in Coral Gables

A US Congressman’s son was arrested for striking a Miami Commissioner at a steakhouse in Florida.

Carlos J Gimenez, 44, allegedly asked city politician Alex Diaz de la Portilla, “Hey p***y, do you remember me?”, before hitting him with an open hand around the head, police say.

The incident at the Morton’s restaurant in Coral Gables was witnessed by a Miami police officer who was with Diaz de la Portilla at the time of the incident.

Mr Gimenez, who is the son of Republican US Representative Carlos Gimenez, told the officer, “You’re a city of Miami police officer, you don’t have any jurisdiction here,” according to the arrest report.

He has been charged with one misdemeanor count of battery and was released on Thursday after posting a $1,500 bond.

His lawyer, Michael Bland, told the Miami Herald that he did not yet have enough information to comment on the arrest.

Mr Diaz de la Portilla took to Twitter after the incident to blast Mr Gimenez as “quite a coward.”

“It was more like a flick of his wrist from behind me when I was having lunch as he cowardly approached me from behind and ran away. This guy is not known as a very courageous guy. Actually he’s quite a coward,” he said in a tweet.

According to the arrest report, the police officer held onto Mr Gimenez by his coat and asked him to calm down until Coral Gables police arrived at the steakhouse.

He told officers that Mr Gimenez “tried to get away from me” , and he made the arrest as Miami and Coral Gables, which are next to each other, have a mutual aid agreement allowing officers from wither force to take action.

Police say that the incident was captured on a city surveillance video but that it has not been released.