Dream Defenders Dana Scalione
Dana Scalione is a Florida real estate broker who was captured in a viral video confrontation with a group of young African-American men.
Mark Bartlett, identified by one local news outlet as Scalione’s boyfriend, rushed to Scalione’s side during the incident, while carrying a gun, and unleashing racial slurs, the video shows. He’s now accused of a gun offense.
You can watch the video below, but be aware that it contains graphic language. Bartlett 51, is a business man from Hollywood, Florida. According to The Miami Herald, the young men he approached were taking part in a “Bikes Up Guns Down” event in Miami.
Scalione and Bartlett have defended themselves in an interview with Bartlett claiming he was concerned about Scalione’s safety. However, the incident generated community outrage.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. The Video Shows a Woman Named as Dana Scalione Calling the Young Men ‘Thugs’
BREAKING: Miami teens participating in annual #BikesUpGunsDown event assaulted and threatened with a gun in the Brickell Avenue area of Miami today. Captured by one of our members.
Local10, an ABC affiliate, identified the people in the video as Mark Bartlett and his girlfriend, Dana Scalione. The video was recorded by a group called Dream Defenders, and they released it on Twitter, where it quickly went viral.
The Miami Herald described the men in the video as protesters who were “protesting the affordable housing crisis in Miami’s Liberty Square community.”
In the video, the woman named as Dana Scalione alleges one of the young men ran over her foot, and gets in an angry face-to-face verbal confrontation with one of them. “Don’t touch me, you bunch of thugs,” the woman in the video says at one point to the young men. One of the young men calls her a “white as-” and says “f-ck you, b-tch.” That’s when the man named as Bartlett walks forward with a gun. “F—ing dumb as– stupid n—–s,” the man in the video states at one point in the disturbing video. He also is heard to state, “Get out of here you piece of s—.” He also says, “F-cking losers.”
One of the young men says in the video, “ya’ll going to make the news.” That they did after the video went viral.
Dream Defenders has posted a second video on Twitter.
Another video emerged of Bartlett screaming “n*ggers suck” out of his car window before he got out of his car.
S. Lee Merrit, a prominent lawyer, has posted about the incident, alleging that the youth were “participating in a march on #MLKDay19” and promising, “Now we will come to the rescue of these kids.”
2. Mark Bartlett & Dana Scalione Defended Themselves in an Interview
Miami-Dade online court records confirm that Bartlett stands accused of carrying a concealed weapon unlawfully. His full name is given in court records as Mark Allen Bartlett. The case is listed as a felony, and the bond amount was given as $5,000. Scalione has not been accused of any crimes in connection with the incident.
10News reports that, per a police report, Bartlett was driving a Range Rover and left the scene, but police stopped him nearby. He’s accused of not having a concealed carry permit, the television station reported, quoting him as allegedly telling police, “Why am I being arrested when those kids are free to ride around? I did pull out my gun, but I never pointed it at them.”
The station reports that Bartlett spoke to Local 10 News reporter Madeleine Wright. The station’s story reports that Bartlett “said he isn’t a racist and only made the racial slurs out of anger,” alleging that he said he took out the gun because Scalione, his girlfriend, was “outnumbered by the teens and he feared for her safety.”
For her part, the station reports that Scalione alleged to the journalist that “racial slurs were thrown around from both sides and claimed the teens called her a racist term for white people.”
Bartlett told News One: “The reason why we use that word, the reason why Chinese people use the word, why Japanese people, European people, the reason why everybody uses that word is because Black people use that word.”
3. Dana Scalione Is a Florida Real Estate Broker Who Sells High-End Properties
According to her LinkedIn page, Dana Scalione, 45, is a Florida real estate broker for Insignia International Properties in Miami, Florida, a position she’s held since 2014. Her skills on LinkedIn include waterfront and rental properties. Some people angry about the video have posted her phone number online and filled online reviews with negative comments.
Heavy has reached out to Scalione by email, seeking comment, and will post any comment that is received. Bartlett and Scalione have appeared together in a photo on a realty website. She has also been photographed at charity events.
In 2015, the company congratulated Scalione over the sale of a $1 million-plus property. Voter records in Florida list Dana Scalione as an active voter who is affiliated with the Republican Party.
4. Dana Scalione Is Listed in a Bankruptcy Filing Made by Bartlett
Bartlett Bankruptcy by Jessica McBride on Scribd
Federal court records show that Mark Allen Bartlett filed for bankruptcy in Florida in August 2018. In that filing, which you can read above, he listed personal property totaling more than $1.759 million. However, he said that his liabilities totaled more than $6 million.
He listed his monthly income as more than $34,000 but his monthly expenses as exceeding $42,000. He said he had $1.67 million in “domestic support obligations.” Among his property, he listed a Ferrari, a Land Rover, and various pieces of personal property, including a white shag rug, plastic vase with imitation flowers, wood carved pigs, men’s Rolex, and Louis Vuitton luggage.
He described himself as a self-employed business owner for “various businesses.” He is not married.
The bankruptcy filing lists Dana Scalione’s name:
In addition to a divorce in Cook County, Illinois, Bartlett’s bankruptcy filing lists several civil cases, including one filed against his brother. That suit states that Mark Bartlett “alleges that he and his brother James Bartlett jointly own American Cash Loans, LLC, and B &B Investment Group.”
5. The Miami-Dade State’s Attorney Says the Hate Crimes Unit Will Investigate the Incident
I am outraged at the reported acts depicted in videos taken during the Brickell District incident on #MLKDay I have assigned my Hate Crimes Unit Chief to handle this case & am committed to filing the appropriate charges & vigorously prosecute the case to fullest extent of the law
Kathy Fernandez Rundle, the state’s attorney in Miami-Dade County, Florida, issued a statement on Twitter in which she said the incident will be handled by the hate crimes unit in her office.
“I am outraged at the reported acts depicted in videos taken during the Brickell District incident on #MLKDay I have assigned my Hate Crimes Unit Chief to handle this case & am committed to filing the appropriate charges & vigorously prosecute the case to fullest extent of the law,” she wrote.
She further wrote that she has been in communication with the City of Miami mayor and police chief over the matter.