FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A South Florida man is fighting for his life after he was punched twice outside a bar.
The altercation was caught on camera, and loved ones who feel he was attacked are saying they want justice.
Currently, Rocco John Grassano is in critical condition.
“Right now, it’s just touch and go,” said Colleen Grassano, Rocco’s mother.
She said he is an otherwise healthy, happy human being.
“He’s going to wake up, God willing,” she said. “I need all the prayers I can get for him.”
It was Wednesday, Jan. 24 when Grassano was at Hunter’s Beach Bar on Fort Lauderdale Beach. According to police, he got into a verbal dispute with another man. Surveillance video captured the confrontation.
Grassano is seen stepping forward and the other man stepping backwards, before he suddenly throws a pair of punches.
After being hit, Grassano hit his head on a sign/pole and fell to the ground, where he remained motionless.
A police report says officers found “the male bleeding heavily and breathing but unresponsive.”
“He was hit so hard, then hit the ground so hard that his brain swelled,” said family friend Leigh Montone. “The doctors literally told me that the last ditch effort was to take a piece of the skull off so to lower the brain swell.”
Perhaps realizing the gravity of it all, the punch-throwing man then kicked a high chair, but stuck around long enough to speak with police.
Ultimately, officers decided against making an arrest, writing in a report that, “all statements and evidence on scene indicates that (the other person) was acting in self-defense for his safety.”
“They were having words and stuff, but words don’t hurt -- this guy could’ve walked away at any time,” said Grassano’s mother. “I want the person behind bars. I want him to be prosecuted to the fullest.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for Grassano’s medical bills, and it can be found by clicking here.