{"id":1652573,"date":"2025-12-18T22:38:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T03:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/?p=1652573"},"modified":"2025-12-19T18:19:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T23:19:03","slug":"miami-lakes-attorney-says-video-shows-him-defending-his-family-during-scuffle-on-cruise-ship-files-motion-to-dismiss-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/miami-dade\/miami-lakes-attorney-says-video-shows-him-defending-his-family-during-scuffle-on-cruise-ship-files-motion-to-dismiss-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Lakes attorney says video shows him defending his family during scuffle on cruise ship, files motion to dismiss case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Miami Lakes attorney who ended up behind bars<\/a> after a fight on board a cruise ship said a video proves that he was the victim of the attack instead of the attacker and that he was defending his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillip Ortiz told 7News the scuffle with the 67-year-old man occurred aboard a docked cruise ship last month at PortMiami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cellphone video obtained exclusively by 7News shows the scuffle that landed Ortiz in Miami-Dade County jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video shows a struggle over passing through a doorway. The man is seen pushing the door inside while Ortiz is trying to open the door to pass through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with 7News, Ortiz said he was trying to allow his family to get through the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Both of my daughters were on the other side of that door,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, both his 6- and 14-year-old daughters had previously gone through the door as Ortiz’s wife appears to call them from afar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the effort to get past the stranger, the video shows the man putting his hands on Ortiz’s wife, prompting her to kick him away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He put his hand on my significant other,” said Ortiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scuffle then escalates when the man closes the door on the couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m warning him, stop blocking access to my children,” said Ortiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video then shows Ortiz pushing the door open and lunging toward the man, grabbing his shirt with both hands. The man’s head appears to hit a wall, and then Ortiz pushes the man, and they both fall on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My kids are here! I’m not [expletive] around with you! My kids are there!” Ortiz is heard saying in the cellphone video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South Florida attorney said he was only thinking about his kids<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s all that was on my mind, was my kids,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man stays on the floor, appearing to have been knocked out. Ortiz’s 6-year-old daughter and other members of the party are all then seen walking off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When police arrive, Ortiz tells them he and his family were headed to their rooms, but says as they tried entering a hallway, the man refused to let them through a door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Ortiz was placed under arrest<\/a> and charged with battery of a person over the age of 65.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeks later, Ortiz and his lawyer, Stephen Lopez, say it was all self-defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At this point, Philip Ortiz is no longer an attorney. He’s a father, and he’s entitled to self-defense,” said Lopez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7News has learned Lopez has filed a motion to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Documents provided by Ortiz’s legal team say the victim, Gary Popiela, told cops he “pushed the girlfriend who pushed me.” He also said he’d been drinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ortiz said the altercation was all because he was protecting his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I had no other option as a father but to protect my children,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7News reached out to Popiela but did not hear back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lopez said there is more surveillance video showing the fight, and they hope to get it soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Miami Lakes attorney who ended up behind bars after a fight on board a cruise ship said a video proves that he was theRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":188962040,"featured_media":1652585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-12-19T03:39:03Z","apple_news_api_id":"99bf119d-7db6-4e11-ad57-3bc38aab7c11","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-12-19T21:44:19Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Amb8RnX22ThGtVzvDiqt8EQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_speedyseo_primary_category":"","_sunbeam_story_id":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566],"tags":[2194,1415],"coauthors":[1635,646697643,646697589],"class_list":["post-1652573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miami-dade","tag-trending","tag-video","sunbeam-copyright-default","sunbeam-location-test-location"],"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/121825-Footage-of-scuffle-on-board-between-Miami-Lakes-Attorney-and-man.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/188962040"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1652573"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1652628,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1652573\/revisions\/1652628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1652585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1652573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1652573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1652573"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1652573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}