MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A pair of men are accused of an armed robbery outside of the Miami Beach Convention Center in the wee hours of Thursday morning.
Their weapon of choice? A cooler, police say.
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At around midnight, a little more than a half-hour before the robbery, police said the victim had “made acquaintance” with the suspects near Lincoln Road and Pennsylvania Avenue.
Police later identified them as Richard Lee Brown, 41, of Miami Beach, and Joseph Alfons Jasinski II, 42, of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.
The pair invited him to a 7-Eleven, the report states. As the group was walking along Washington Avenue, the victim told police that he “felt a little tired” and sat on some stairs outside of the convention center.
According to police, that’s when both men “grabbed him from the back area” and told him, “Give me your s---, motherf---er!”
Then came the cooler, police said.
Police said Brown, carrying the red-and-white Igloo Playmate, wielded it as a weapon and hit the victim with it four or five times as he tried to pull away, giving him a lump on his head.
He surrendered his backpack, containing his Indian passport and a $1,700 Pierre Cardin suit, to the men and ran away, the report states.
The pair chased after him towards Dade Boulevard, yelling, “Give me your wallet and phone,” the report states, but the victim was able to call 911 and officers located him near Meridian Avenue.
After putting out a “need to identify” flyer, Miami Beach police officers found Jasinski at Lincoln Road and Pennsylvania Avenue and Brown in the 1800 block of Collins Avenue at around 8:30 a.m., the report states.
The pair left the cooler at the scene and police dusted it for prints, authorities said.
Both men identified themselves on surveillance footage, police said, but Jasinski claimed they only had a verbal altercation with the man and didn’t rob him, police said.
Both men were being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Friday.
A judge ordered Brown to remain jailed without bond, while Jasinski refused his court appearance.