HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A man buying food at a Hallandale Beach 7-Eleven wasn’t happy after a woman in line chimed in on lighthearted banter between him and the store’s cashier over the quality — or lack thereof — of the convenience store’s food offerings; the joking mood quickly devolved into a string of insults and a bizarre beating.
That’s all according to an arrest report obtained by Local 10 News on Thursday following the suspect’s arrest this week.
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Authorities arrested Kirk Francis Russell, 65, of Lauderdale Lakes, on a felony battery charge Tuesday. He had been wanted in connection to the July 28, 2022 incident at the 7-Eleven at 722 Atlantic Shores Blvd.
According to the Hallandale Beach police arrest report, the chain of events began after Russell complained to the cashier that the chicken he just selected was “hard.”
Officer Jerome Dolabaille wrote that the cashier told him the chicken wasn’t hard and had just came out and jokingly said he “was hurting her feelings,” leading Russell to apologize.
Police said the cashier then told him: “I don’t know about that beef patty though,” apparently referring to another hot food item on offer at the convenience store.
The woman whom police described as the eventual victim was standing in line during this exchange, the report states, and jokingly chimed in: “Oh, oh, you’re gonna have to take a chance with that meat patty.”
Dolabaille wrote that Russell turned around, looked at the woman and told her “as fat as you are, you should know how everything tastes.”
Police said the woman then retorted: “OK a--hole.”
“Why are you calling out my name?” police said Russell asked.
They said the woman replied: “You called me fat, I’m calling you a--hole. Even Steven.”
That set off an escalating war of words that would lead to Russell telling the woman to wait while he went to drop off groceries at his mother’s house “and he would return to fight her,” the report states.
Police said after Russell walked out, the woman paid for her items and walked to her car. That’s when they said Russell, wielding a plastic milk crate, yelled “let’s fight.”
“Are you going to fight a girl?” police said the woman asked, to which they said Russell replied that he “didn’t care.”
That’s when police said Russell began beating the woman with the crate, hitting her in her forehead and, as she tried to block it, her right wrist.
The woman began cursing in pain, the report states, “infuriat(ing)” Russell “even more.”
Police said he hit her twice more with the crate, hitting her in her left arm and, as she tried to use her phone, her right hand, knocking the phone out of her hand. After the beating ended, police said Russell left the scene before officers arrived.
Authorities said the woman sustained a fracture to her wrist, bruising on her arm and a lump on her forehead.
Russell was no longer listed in Broward jail records as of Thursday afternoon.