Alex Mesa Ticketed For Running Backwards In Miami Beach, Florida

For six years, Alex Mesa has been running backwards throughout Miami Beach. He's appeared in tourists' YouTube videos and even completed an entire 5k in reverse.

On Saturday, police interrupted his jog.

WTVJ reported that four officers responding to a 911 call ticketed Mesa for obstructing traffic. Sgt. Robert Hernandez of the Miami Beach Police Department told the station that authorities witnessed Mesa jogging between cars.

Mesa allegedly told officers he wouldn't stop running backwards in the street. He told WTVJ he believes police singled him out because they learned of a past drug charge.

According to the Miami Sun Post Weekly, Mesa runs backwards two or three times a week for about two hours. He makes exercise a priority -- especially because in 1993 he learned he was HIV positive. He also suffers from cirrhosis, a liver condition made worse from his past with drug and alcohol addiction.

Now, he's working to recover and turn his life -- like his running -- around.

"Every time I take one step jogging backwards I dedicate it to [God] because that is a miracle," he told Sun Post Weekly. "I represent what supposedly is not possible."