Reporter pushed, threatened with arrest while trying to question Florida mayor

WPLG investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier was shoved and threatened with jail by a plainclothes Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputy while approaching the county’s mayor for an interview in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 11, 2026.

The TV station reported that the incident took place while the mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, was appearing at an event at a public park.

Weinsier tried to ask her why electric city buses that cost taxpayers more than $60 million were taken out of service. The reporter sought out the mayor at the public event because, for weeks, her communications staff had told him that she would not do an interview on the issue, according to WPLG.

After Levine Cava finished an interview with the county’s own television channel, Weinsier walked up to her and asked a question. WPLG’s video report on the incident shows a woman standing next to the mayor saying, “We can speak after the program.”

Then, a man wearing a black jacket and sunglasses but no visible badge or credentials steps forward and pushes Weinsier back. The man — later identified as a Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputy, Lester Aguilar, part of the mayor’s security detail — tells everyone to move back, and shoves Weinsier several times.

The reporter repeatedly says, “Don’t push me,” to which Aguilar replies, “Do you want to go to jail?

“For what? Standing and trying to interview the mayor?” Weinsier asks.

At no point does Aguilar identify himself as law enforcement or as a member of the mayor’s security team.

Aguilar alleged that the reporter made contact with him. “The next time you put your hands on me, you will go to jail. I was just trying to do my job,” he says later.

“And I as well,” Weinsier replies.

Later that day, the mayor agreed to answer Weinsier’s questions about the buses.

WPLG reported that the Sheriff’s Office had opened an internal affairs investigation into the incident.

Weinsier told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that WPLG submitted a public records request to the Sheriff’s Office, seeking its policies and procedures about plainclothes officers identifying themselves when interacting with the public, “particularly before or while giving orders.”

He said the incident hasn’t deterred their reporting. “Our focus remains on getting answers regarding the taxpayer-funded electric bus program and continuing to ask questions of public officials.”

“That said, I do think there are broader questions that come out of this. If there are specific protocols, boundaries or a defined perimeter around the mayor when she is in a public setting, that is something journalists and the public should clearly understand,” Weinsier added.

The Miami-Dade Mayor’s Office and Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.

“Ultimately, I think the key issue here is clarity. If plainclothes officers are going to engage with members of the media or the public in that way, there should be clear identification and clear rules governing those interactions,” Weinsier said.