John Kiernan is an American Gun store owner known for knocking out a Valet worker with one punch at a Ocean Sky Hotel and Resort after he refused to pay the $18 fee for parking. ^[1]

Kiernan lives with his wife and children in New Smyrna Beach where he also owns and operates a Gun Store.

He worked as a Police officer in the Atlanta area in the state of Georgia for about a decade before moving to Florida with his family.

He worked as a security guard at Orlando International Airport.

He is now the owner of a gun store.

He was charged in 2015 with petit theft for stealing sunglasses from a Sunglasses Hut in Orlando, Florida. The incident occurred while he still worked as a security guard at Orlando International Airport.

He was questioned at the scene by a Police Officer who asked in he had walked out with the sunglasses, and Kiernan responded "No", but he was seen placing the sunglasses inside of his pocket.

Kiernan then asked the officer, "Are you charging me with a crime?" He was arrested and now records show that the charges were dropped and entered a pre-trial diversion program.

On the evening of Tuesday, July 25th, 2017, as Rodolfo took part in his service of attending hotel guests with their vehicles, he came in contact with a disgruntled individual who did not want to pay the $18 parking fee.

The disgruntled man is identified as John Kiernan, a former police officer, and a dispute over the parking fee ensued.

The incident was caught on surveillance.

As Rodolfo spoke with Kiernan about the parking fee in a non threatening way as seen in his relaxed composure, the ex police officer could not tolerate the fact that he had to pay a fee.

As they are seen discussing the issue, on a whim, the officer throws a punch that immediately knocks out Rodolfo.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department responded to the scene and took questions from nearby witnesses, and also from Kiernan himself who was not arrested at the time. The reason for not making an arrest according to the police is because they had not witnessed the assault themselves and instead gave Kiernan a misdemeanor battery. The police officer had no knowledge that Kiernan also worked as a police officer. Rodolfo was taken to the hospital for treatment and discharged the following morning.

When the officer asked Kiernan about the incident, he said, “…that the victim made a comment to him in the nature of ‘You’re just looking to fight.’ Mr. J. Kiernan said his life experience taught him this was an aggressive statement so he chose to hit the guy first.”

Kiernan said he felt in danger for his safety and struck first.

He also says on record: "Based on everything I have dealt with in my life...and based on his body language, the way he spoke to me, I did feel he was going to go to physical contact... I didn't know if the guy had a weapon on him.

So as soon as he said that I struck him one time and he went down."

The cops let him go.

The next morning the surveillance video was released and created an uproar in the office.

The hotel Manager has expressed that he wants to see Kiernan arrested and that the rest of his workers are angered as they feel like they can be harmed and nothing will be done.

The hotel manager and the rest of his staff ensured to eject Kiernan after a two-day stay.

Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione responded in the following:

Maglione said his department’s investigation into the incident was complete and passed along a battery charge to the Broward State Attorney’s Office.

Kiernan had not been taken into custody by Tuesday.