Moment former government worker begged for mercy after he was arrested for throwing glass bottle that nearly hit Argentina President Javier Milei and struck police officer

A former civil servant who threw a glass bottle that nearly hit Argentine President Javier Miley as he rode in a convertible en route to the presidential palace has been arrested.

Gaston Mercanzini, 51, was handcuffed outside the offices of news agency Cronica TV in Buenos Aires on Tuesday morning.

Mercanzini, who previously worked for the culture ministry of the central province of Entre Rios, expressed remorse when police took him into custody.

“I am sorry. I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” he told police.

Gaston Mercanzini was arrested on Tuesday outside the Cronica TV offices in Buenos Aires, just two days after he threw a bottle at Argentine President Javier Miley.

Miley greets the crowd from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace in Buenos Aires.

Authorities in Buenos Aires launched a search for Mercanzini after surveillance video showed him throwing a container that narrowly missed Miley in the head and then hit Deputy Commissioner Guillermo Armentano on Sunday.

Armentano, who works for the presidential unit of the federal police, was taken to the presidential palace where he was treated for a cut to his left ear.

Mercanzini appeared at the Cronica TV headquarters trying to apologize for his behavior.

Security Ministry sources told La Nación newspaper that local police were immediately alerted and went to the Cronica television station, where they arrested Mercanzini without incident.

“After the call from the Crónica journalist, we verified the information and clearly dispatched investigators who joined the city police to prevent the suspect from escaping,” a source in the Argentine federal police told La Nación newspaper.

Mercanzini visited the headquarters of two media outlets to apologize for the bottle-throwing incident before he was arrested on Tuesday morning.

Miley was waving to supporters when he was nearly hit by a glass bottle, which hit one of the law enforcement officers assigned to his security.

Before attempting to arrange a meeting with Cronica TV, Mercanzini also approached the Radio 10 offices for the opportunity to apologize for the bottle-throwing incident.

Mercanzini was also arrested in July after he smashed a car door with a metal pipe for attacking a police car. He was arrested on charges of aggravated criminal mischief in that case.

In August, he was arrested for contempt of court and civil disobedience.

Law enforcement sources told La Nación that Mercanzini could be charged with “attempted manslaughter”, while others believe he could be charged with attempted assault for throwing a bottle at President Miley.

Mercanzini previously served as culture minister in Concepción de Uruguay, a municipality in the central province of Entre Rios, 198 miles north of Buenos Aires.

However, he was removed from his position in 2013 after he took leave “for personal reasons,” La Nación newspaper reported.

Mercanzini was a follower of the left-wing Peronist movement, based on the ideas of former President Juan Peron, who ruled from 1946 to 1955, when he was overthrown, and again from 1973 until his death in 1974.