A man who was allegedly making anti-Semitic statements and Nazi gestures outside a Jewish owned pizza restaurant for months was arrested in North Miami Beach, Florida on Tuesday.
According to WPLG Local 10 News, a police report stated that Christian Santamaria, a 39-year old mechanic from Hialeah, Florida was apprehended by police responding to multiple suspicious incident complains.
Joseph Manson, the Jewish owner of Jerusalem Pizza, said in an interview with Local 10 News, “We’re not going to take it. We’re not scared. We’re not afraid.”
Manson said that over a period of months, a white Honda Accord would park in the plaza’s lot. The driver would walk up to the front of the restaurant and start to yell anti-Semitic phrases such as “Hail Hitler,” “**** the Jews!,” “You should’ve all been burned in the gas chambers,” and “Hitler should have killed all you Jewish.”
Manson said that he had also witnessed the man making a Nazi salute.
The man was later identified as the suspect, Santamaria.
The police report, according to Local 10, state that the incidents began on December 21, 2020, when the man screamed “I hate the Jewish” and performed a Nazi salute in front of Manson and the pizzeria’s customers.
Two hours later, he came back and made more anti-Semitic comments and gestures. Someone took a photo of his license plate.
On May 13, 2021, a woman called police to report another incident where a man got out of a white Honda Accord next to her car and screamed, “Why didn’t Hitler throw all of you in the ocean? **** Jews.”
She provided a cellphone video of the car’s license plate to police.
Santamaria has been charged with felony stalking with prejudice. There is no hate crime statue in Florida. Felony stalking with prejudice implies that the crime was committed based on the ethnicity of the victim.