Colombian Football Federation head arrested amid Copa America chaos

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Ramón Jesurún, the head of soccer’s governing body in Colombia, was arrested amid a night of chaos at the Copa America soccer tournament in Miami Gardens.

Jesurún, the president of the Colombian Football Federation and a vice president with CONMEBOL, the group that puts on Copa America, is facing three felony counts of battery on a specified official or employee.

The 71-year-old also serves on the FIFA Council, a “strategic and oversight body” for soccer’s global governing body.

Jesurún was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center just after 4:15 a.m. Monday, according to jail records, after Colombia lost 1-0 to Argentina in the final.

Related: Police say 27 arrests, 55 ejections made in crowd chaos at Copa America final

According to a Miami-Dade Police Department arrest report, Jesurún, and his son, 43-year-old Ramón Jamil Jesurún, are accused of fighting multiple security guards holding people back from a tunnel where media was gathering at around 12:20 a.m. Monday, after the match ended.

Both father and son “became irate” at a guard and began “shouting” at him, police said. The arrest report states the altercation became physical after a security guard asked the men, “yelling in (the guard’s) face,” to step back and placed a palm on the younger Jesurún’s chest to “guide him back.”

That led the elder Jesurún to step forward and push the guard, police said. His son then followed up by grabbing the guard’s neck and punching him, according to police.

Both men are accused of then fighting security guards who tried to break up the altercation.

Video shared by Colombian media outlet Publimetro, via Fox Sports Mexico, reportedly shows the brawl.

Both father and son were scheduled to appear in Miami-Dade bond court Monday afternoon. Arrest reports list both as residing at a condominium in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood.

Both men’s bonds had yet to be set, according to jail records.

This is a developing story. Stay with Local 10 News and Local10.com for updates.