SWEETWATER, Fla. – An armed security guard put an 86-year-old man in a headlock and threw him to the ground as he was waiting in line at the Social Security Administration office in Sweetwater, authorities say. Police concluded that the guard was in the wrong.
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Police said the incident happened on Feb. 28 at the SSA office at 11401 W. Flagler St.; after an investigation, officers arrested the guard, Peter Sebastian Vegliante, on Monday.
Investigators said CCTV footage showed the senior victim waiting in the appointment line at the office. An arrest report states that after the man, leaning against a pillar, “wave(d) a white piece of paper in the air,” Vegliante “grabbed (him) against his will and placed (him) in a headlock.”
Vegliante, 44, of southwest Miami-Dade, then threw the man “to the ground,” police said.
The man told police that Vegliante, employed by Maryland-based BTI Security, put his knee on his back for a minute. After the incident, police said medics arrived, then evaluated and released the victim.
The octogenarian told investigators that two “unknown officers” told him that “if they were to call the police, he could possibly be arrested,” the arrest report states.
A March 7 interview with a witness corroborated the victim’s account and the CCTV footage, obtained and shared by the U.S. Federal Protective Service police agency on March 11, corroborated the victim’s account of the incident, police said.
Authorities said on Monday, they went to a Drug Enforcement Administration facility in Sweetwater, where Vegliante was posted, and took him into custody on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and battery on a person 65 or older.
He “declined to speak about his case and invoked his right to a lawyer,” the arrest report states.
Appearing in court Tuesday, Judge Mindy Glazer found no probable cause for the aggravated battery charge against Vegliante, but ordered he be held on a $1,500 bond for the charge of battery on a person 65 or older.
In court, his attorney, Lorenzo Palomares, said Vegliante was performing his duties and mentioned that his client had an ongoing issue with the city of Sweetwater.
Records show Vegliante sued the city in Miami-Dade court, claiming that a Sweetwater police officer improperly arrested him while he was on duty at the SSA building after Vegliante asked an officer what he was doing at the property.
Records show the case was dismissed.
Neither the SSA, BTI Security, nor Palomares returned emailed requests for comment as of Tuesday evening.
Vegliante was no longer listed in jail records as of Tuesday evening.