| RIPTIDE | ▼ MIAMI BLOCKBUSTER on social media? That’s the situation Miami attorney Aaron A Parnas has found himself in after being blocked on Twitter by Republican State Sen. Ileana Garcia. On April 15, Parnas tweeted at Garcia’s account, @IleanaGarciaUSA, inquiring about her former campaign manager’s alleged pres- ence at the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Within minutes, Parnas says, he was blocked by the senator. “I was unsurprised, given the fact that she likes to hide from critics,” Parnas — who is the son of Ukrainian businessman and former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas — tells New Times. “But at the same time, it was dis- heartening because as a constituent of hers, I would have loved to be able to ask tough questions, or just questions in general.” Over the years, a number of courts have found that public officials’ social-media ac- counts constitute public forums — notably a New York federal appeals court that in 2019 ruled that then-President Donald Trump had violated free-speech laws by blocking critics on Twitter. The U.S. Supreme Court has even dubbed sites such as Twitter and Facebook “the modern public square,” a place where constituents can “petition their elected representatives and otherwise en- GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS ▼ MIAMI MCSTEAMY TO THE RESCUE HOT INFLUENCER DOCTOR SAVES BLEEDING MAN ON I-95 ENTRANCE RAMP. BY ALEX DELUCA N ot all heroes wear capes. Miguel Ribe, a Jackson Memorial Hospital ER resident and medical influencer known to his 20,000-plus Instagram followers as @doctor.ribeye, is typically photographed in his teal scrubs and stethoscope. But when hiv s fiancée, Stephanie Bavaresco — an Instagram influencer herself, with more than 27,000 followers — noticed a bleeding man at the I-95 entrance ramp as they were driving home from the Wharf Miami earlier this month, Ribe, clad in ripped jeans and a bold-print shirt and sporting Nike Blazers, sprang to action. According to Ribe’s and Bavaresco’s retelling of the incident on Instagram, Bavaresco called 911 as Ribe rushed to the man’s rescue and helped CAN REPUBLICAN SEN. ILEANA GARCIA KEEP BLOCKING HER CONSTITUENTS ON TWITTER? BY ALEX DELUCA s a constituent, you want to be heard by your elected officials. But what happens when they block you gage with them in a direct manner.” According to Daniel Tilley, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, it’s unconstitutional for Garcia or any public official to block constitu- ents simply because of a “distaste for, or dis- agreement with, their views.” “Constituents should be able to ask ques- tions of their representatives without being dismissed, blocked, or ignored in the pro- cess,” Tilley writes in a statement to New Times. “Elected officials should value the rights of constituents who wish to keep them accountable and have their voices heard.” Parnas lives in Brickell, which is part of Garcia’s District 36 which encompasses parts of Miami-Dade. He tells New Times that he’s unsure whether he’s willing to take legal ac- tion against Garcia yet for blocking him, and plans to reach out to her office this week. Neither Garcia nor her office responded to New Times’ requests for comment via email and Instagram DM. In February, Garcia made headlines when she abruptly quit Twitter after telling people to “move on” from racism and voting against an amendment to the recently passed 15- week abortion ban that would have made ex- ceptions for rape and incest. She has since activated a Twitter feature that only allows people she follows or mentions in her tweets to reply to them and placed her account in “safety mode,” which automatically blocks accounts that are engaging in “potentially abusive or spammy behavior.” “Grateful to those concerned about some of the constant harassment and abusive be- havior I have been receiving on social media. It says nothing about me and everything about them. I am not afraid. I use my efforts to resolve not destroy,” Garcia wrote in an April 15 tweet. “My faith is all I need.” But after placing her account in “safety mode,” she apparently began auto-blocking a Photo via Senator Ileana Garcia’s Facebook number of users who were tweeting ques- tions regarding her former campaign man- ager. Some users also claimed that Garcia had manually blocked them — including one per- son who alleged he was blocked despite never having interacted with or heard of Garcia. Rep. Mike Grieco, who is currently vying for Garcia’s District 36 state senate seat, says he, too, was blocked by Garcia on April 15, several hours after he had taken to Twitter to criticize her decision to disable comments on her tweets. “I guess I hit a nerve,” Grieco tweeted. Grieco sent out a campaign email blast that day titled “My opponent just blocked me on Twitter,” noting that Garcia “apparently doesn’t like democracy.” He tells New Times The ACLU says it’s unconstitutional for elected officials to block constituents who criticize them. he feels it’s ironic that Garcia, whom he refers to as a “card-carrying” supporter of Donald Trump, wouldn’t allow public dialogue on her Twitter feed, given that Trump allowed anyone to engage with his tweets. “You know, as unlikable, and as awful a person Donald Trump is, at least he didn’t disable his comments,” Grieco says. Grieco appears to be unblocked from Gar- cia’s profile as of April 19. But he’s not holding his virtual breath. “Maybe she’ll block me again,” he shrugs. “I don’t know.” stabilize his breathing until paramedics arrived. “I don’t know what his outcome will be, but I truly hope we were able to get to him in time,” Ribe wrote in an Instagram post about the inci- dent on April 18. The notion of an influencer doctor typically conjures images of someone awkwardly dancing in scrubs or a lab coat on TikTok, not heroically saving a person’s life on the side of the highway. But Ribe is part of a new generation of hot young doctors who’ve built followings on social media sites like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. His most recent Instagram post about the in- cident — photos and a video showing him kneel- ing over the victim with a line of cars and a sliver of the Miami skyline visible in the background — was a slight departure from his usual content, which includes thirst-trap selfies showing off his slicked-back hair and biceps bulging out of scrubs or Hawaiian shirts or connected to his manscaped, tattooed pecs. But his followers didn’t seem to mind: As of noon on Tuesday, the post had garnered more than 4,500 likes. Another shot of the incident, which shows a group of Miami paramedics sur- rounding Ribe as he attended to the man on the ground, was shared by the popular Only In Dade (@onlyindade) Instagram account. The vast majority of the feedback was positive, though commenters accused Ribe of clout-chasing. “Babe don’t forget “IT WAS SCARY, BUT IT WAS INCREDIBLE TO SEE MIGUEL IN ACTION.” to take a picture for In- stagram!” one person facetiously wrote. “Miami does any- thing for the CLOUT” commented another. “So glad @doctor. ribeye was able to get some sick content for his instagram,” chastised another. On the evening of April 18, Bavaresco turned her camera to selfie mode and spoke to her fol- lowers about the incident. She explained that the man, who appeared to have fallen out of a “trol- ley” as it was pulling onto I-95, was unresponsive and bleeding from the head when they found him. Ribe successfully revived him. “It was scary, but it was incredible to see Miguel in action,” Bavaresco told her followers. “I hear stories that he tells me all the time, but see- ing it was a whole other experience, and I’m so proud of him, honestly.” After spending several minutes recapping the events hailing her fiancé as a hero, Bavaresco pivoted to a pitch for the “online business” com- pany she works for. “If you are interested in learning more of what I do and how you can also make an extra income online and monetize social media and have more time freedom, earn these incentives, let’s talk,” she said. “You don’t have to have experience or you don’t have to have a big following, it’s all about being open-minded and wanting more.... There’s no commitment; I’ll give you some infor- mation and we can go from there.” #BecauseMiami, of course. 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