Routine Interactions That Escalate Into Violence

Everywhere you click online, you find people lamenting, or more likely ranting, about the decline of civility. Whoever figured out that people will eagerly click on content about unruly airline passengers and aggressive Starbucks customers. Your instinct tells you that what you see in person with your own eyes is more reliable than a decontextualized video that someone else published online. You don’t know whether those rage bait videos about incivility were staged, or worse, whether they are deepfakes or realistic AI slop that you were not quite attentive enough to detect as fake. Unfortunately, when you go out into the real world and socialize in person, it is not much better. The people you meet in person spew venom about how civility is dead; they usually support their claims either with content they saw online or with highly speculative interpretations of ambiguous behavior that they witnessed, never mind that you made the time to meet with them in person and to look up from your device and listen while your interlocutors are speaking. Sometimes, though, ordinary interactions descend into violence. Here, our Miami violent crime lawyer explains how what should have been an Instagrammably sweet interaction, a priest receiving a hurricane relief donation from an elderly woman at a church, resulted in one of them getting criminal charges for assault and related crimes.

The Hurricane Relief Donation That Went Bad

In November 2025, St. Kevin’s Catholic Parish Church in Miami-Dade County held a donation drive to collect supplies for people in Cuba affected by the hurricanes of the 2025 hurricane season. Everything was fine until an elderly woman who dropped off some supplies took pictures of the donation drive site with her cell phone. Fr. Jesus Gabriel Saldana, a priest at St. Kevin’s who was staffing the donation drive, told the woman not to take pictures. His objection allegedly related to a politically themed poster present at the donation site, which would have been visible in the woman’s photos. When he told her not to take pictures, she demanded her donations back. Fr. Saldana began arguing with the woman, and she walked away toward her car.

Charges for Priest Who Fought With Elderly Woman Over Unauthorized Cell Phone Picture

Fr. Saldana followed the woman to her car in an effort to take the phone, and a scuffle ensued. First, he tried to take the phone from her as she got into the car. In doing so, he broke the car’s gear selector and ripped off the rear-view mirror. The woman allegedly bit Fr. Saldana’s wrist in an effort to resist his aggression. Fr. Saldana then opened the passenger’s side door of the car, because the woman’s purse was on the passenger seat. He took the purse out of the car and dumped its contents on the ground, presumably trying to find the phone. News reports did not say whether the phone was in the car. While all of this was going on, witnesses called the police.

Fr. Saldana, 72, is facing the following criminal charges:

• Battery against a person aged 65 or older
• Burglary of an occupied conveyance
• Property damage valued at $200 or less
• Criminal mischief

The NBC 6 South Florida news site listed several bond amounts that the court had set for Fr. Saldana. The largest amount was $7,500.

Protected Characteristics of the Accuser Usually Matter More Than Protected Characteristics of the Defendant

The most serious charge that Fr. Saldana is facing battery against a person aged 65 or older. This charge can apply against anyone accused of physical violence against an elderly person; the fact that Fr. Saldana is also over age 65 does not matter, nor does it matter that he is a Catholic priest. Crimes against the most vulnerable people, such as minors and the elderly, often carry more severe penalties than if someone had perpetrated the same crime against an able-bodied adult. In some cases, though, the defendant’s position of authority can count against him or her. This happened in the case of Fr. Christopher Senk, a priest at a Catholic Church on Sanibel Island who was accused of defrauding an elderly parishioner out of large amounts of money and valuable items. It also matters in the case of clergy accused of sexual offenses.

Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys

A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for assault or battery against an elderly person.  Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.

Source:

nbcmiami.com/news/local/pastor-at-st-kevins-catholic-parish-arrested-on-multiple-charges/3725051/