HIALEAH, Fla. – A 74-year-old man feeding chickens in a Hialeah pharmacy parking lot was hit from behind and knocked unconscious, authorities said.
The man police said is responsible, Edwyn Oriel Diaz, was arrested on Thursday — the victim’s 75th birthday.
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Diaz, 46, is accused of attacking the victim on July 10 outside of the CVS Pharmacy y más at 101 Hialeah Drive.
Hialeah police said the victim was feeding the birds at around 7:40 p.m., something he does regularly, when Diaz came up to the man from behind, hit him and caused him to fall to the ground face-first, knocking him unconscious.
The victim would later tell police that he only remembers regaining consciousness when neighbors walked him to his home, an arrest report states.
A witness saw the attack and took a cellphone photo of Diaz before notifying police. Diaz flipped off the witness as he walked away, police said.
Authorities said the witness also took down the tag number of Diaz’s panel van, which he sleeps in.
Police said the victim told investigators that Diaz has “aggressively approached him” while feeding the chickens on three separate occasions before the attack.
The report states Diaz “would kick around the food for no reason.”
Hialeah police officers on a Special Victims Unit detail located Diaz’s van parked outside his mother’s house in the 2100 block of West Fourth Court Thursday, it states.
Authorities found him inside the van and took him in custody on a charge of aggravated battery on a person 65 or older, a first-degree felony.
Diaz, a Cuban national, was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Friday afternoon, where his bond had yet to be set.