Photo credit: Police Handout

From Cosmopolitan

According to NBC Miami, reigning Miss Miami Lakes Vanessa Lucile Barcelo, 26, was arrested on Thursday after allegedly accosting a man who was at a party she was hosting at her home. She faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery and battery.



NBC reports Barcelo was “very intoxicated” when she told the man, who she reportedly knows, to leave her house. Though he was complying, Barcelo and another unnamed man allegedly kept pushing him down the stairs. She also then allegedly chased him out of the house with an aluminum baseball bat, striking him in the back and shoulder. The other man then punched him, as did Barcelo, according to police records. She was wearing a onesie covered in snowmen during the alleged attack.

The New York Daily News reports Barcelo denied punching the man after she was arrested - it’s unclear whether she denied hitting him with the bat - even though she had blood on her hands at the time.

“Vanessa is a sweet, sweet individual, very caring individual who in the circumstances did what she felt was appropriate,” her attorney Josef Timilchman told reporters on Friday without further clarifying said circumstances: “We are confident that once all of the facts that occurred last night come to light, my client will be absolved of any criminal responsibility.”

Barcelo’s pageant win made her a contender for the Miss Florida USA 2017 crown. The Miss Florida Pageant wouldn’t comment specifically on Barcelo’s case, only saying they have “specific morality clauses within each pageant delegate’s description of duties would be taken into consideration upon a legal ruling.”

The victim was hospitalized with severe injuries to his left eye and the other man allegedly involved in the attack still hasn't been identified. Barcelo was released on a $1,500 bond.

Follow Tess on Twitter.

You Might Also Like