Fighting eviction, Li’l Abner resident is on trial over rent-payment quarrel
A woman who was dragged and thrown to the ground by a police officer while trying to pay rent amid the mass eviction at Li’l Abner Mobile Home Park is on trial in Miami for several misdemeanors.
The trial of Vivian Hernandez, 62, began Tuesday afternoon before Miami-Dade County Court Judge Maria Cuervo. Hernandez is charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing and resisting arrest without violence.
If convicted, Hernandez faces up to a year in jail.
Sitting behind Hernandez were several rows of loved ones and former Li’l Abner residents who showed up to support her.
For 16 years, Hernandez went to the Li’l Abner office and paid her rent without incident, attorney David Winker said. Winker said he had instructed Hernandez and more than 200 other residents, whom he was also representing, to pay their rent on time so they could challenge the eviction.
READ MORE: ‘I have nothing’: How a mass eviction left retired, disabled Miamians homeless
Li’l Abner’s 3,000 or so residents were ordered to vacate their trailers because CREI Holdings, the landowner, intended to develop the land beneath the trailers to build a multi-family housing complex. The residents are appealing the eviction in court.
When Hernandez went to pay rent on Dec. 4, 2024, she was met with “pure aggression” and treated like a “violent criminal” by the officer, Winker said. The arrest was captured on video, which was published by several media outlets.
“My client, clearly scared, clearly confused, not understanding why there was a police officer there ... she kind of falls back into a chair whereupon the officer grabs her and body slams her,” Winker told jurors, adding that Hernandez spent four days in a hospital.
Prosecutors, however, argue that Hernandez ignored, refused and resisted the officer’s orders to leave the office — raising her voice and disturbing the peace.
“The defendant became upset and disrupted the ordinary flow of business,” prosecutor Max Gonzalez-Brito said.
Miami Herald Staff Writer Max Klaver contributed to this report
