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Miami Beach Mayoral Candidate Hit With Assault Charges

MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – A man running for mayor in Tuesday's election in Miami Beach has been aggravated assault and battery charges.

The charges stem from an incident on Sunday when 67-year old Rafael Herman reportedly demanded that several African American passengers on a Miami-Dade transit bus give up their seats so he could sit since he was elderly.

Witnesses reportedly told police that Herman was verbally and racially aggressive toward bus driver and his fellow passengers. When the bus pulled into its stop in the 4100 block of Indian Creek, Herman got off along with two other passengers.

Herman's arrest report states he got into fight with one of them and at one point grab a six foot wooden flag pole and started swinging it while using racial slurs. After being hit several times, the passenger fought back and punched Herman in the eye. A witness then intervened and kept the two apart until the police arrived.

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