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Two police officers trying to calm a man causing a ruckus at a Miami Heat game Wednesday night ended up tumbling through the crowd and down at least four rows as they tried to get him out of his seat.
Adrain Mato, 23, was at the game against the Chicago Bulls at AmericanAirlines Arena when he began arguing with the people seated around him and "behaving in an aggressive manner," according to an arrest affidavit.
A Miami police officer approached him, tried to calm him and figure out what was going on, but Mato kept yelling, the report said. The officer noticed Mato "had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage in his breath as well as he had a slurred speech as he yelled in Spanish," according to police.
When another officer arrived as backup, Mato started "getting louder and swinging his arms and taking a fighting stance" so the two officers tried to lead him out of the arena, according to the arrest affidavit.
Instead, Mato pulled back and struggled with the officers. Fans quickly moved to dodge them as they rolled down the rows, a video posted to Instagram showed.
When Mato and the officers came to a stop, he continued to fight and tried to hit one of the officers and elbowed the other in the stomach, police said. The officers eventually wrestled Mato to the ground and had to carry him off the property as he kicked his legs, according to the arrest report.
Mato was charged with battery of a police officer, resisting an officer with violence, disorderly conduct and disorderly intoxication, according to jail records. He's being held on $11,000 bond at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
