AVENTURA, Fla. – A disabled homeless man trying to clean himself in a bathroom stall at the Aventura Mall bus terminal became the victim of a lewd attack by a convicted felon over the weekend, according to police.
Aventura police said it happened at around 12:45 p.m. Sunday inside an accessible stall within the bus terminal, located in the mall’s Nordstrom garage at 19507 Biscayne Blvd.; a mall spokesperson said the bathroom is maintained by Miami-Dade County.
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Police said Michael Jerome Parrish, 38, of Fort Lauderdale, “entered the closed stall and grabbed (the victim)’s penis.”
The victim responded by pulling out a knife and cutting Parrish in the hand, an arrest report states.
The suspect then ran out of the bathroom, and began “punching and fighting” an elderly man until officers pulled up, his arrest report stated.
Parrish, who was “acting erratically, sweating profusely” and “screaming,” was taken into custody and sent to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital for medical clearance, police wrote in the report.
Security officers also trespassed Parrish from the mall indefinitely.
Parrish is facing second-degree felony charges of burglary with assault or battery and lewd and lascivious battery on an elderly or disabled adult.
He’s also facing a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.
A Miami-Dade judge ordered he remain held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Parrish, according to Florida Department of Corrections records, has had two stints in prison after felony convictions for charges including robbery and battery on a law enforcement officer. Those cases stemmed from Palm Beach and Broward counties.