A Miami Beach deli owner is speaking out after he was attacked by an angry customer.
Business owner Richard Sauzo said a man, who was trying to shoplift in his store, threw a beer at his head.
“That’s when I turned my back on the guy and the beer just him me,” he said.
“His aim is pretty good,” said 7News’ Sheldon Fox.
“He should be a baseball player,” said Sauzo jokingly.
The owner has a good sense of humor about the incident now, but it was no laughing matter on May 23 when the man, identified as Hubert Diaz, beaned him with a 16-ounce can of Corona beer.
Surveillance video, obtained exclusively by 7News, captures how it all started at the busy Ocean Deli in mid-Miami Beach.
Sauzo said his store was packed with employees and customers when the loud, unruly, unwanted Diaz entered the business and grabbed the can of beer.
“He didn’t wanna pay for the beer,” said Sauzo. “(So), I came to the front of the store and they called me.”
Workers called their boss to handle the matter.
Sauzo told Diaz that it wasn’t the day to be unruly and to leave.
“‘The store is full of people. I need you to step out of the store,’” he said. “I escorted the guy out, told him, ‘Please, could you leave?’ Then he didn’t wanna leave.”
The owner had the unruly Diaz out the door, but not out of his hair.
“I turned my back on the guy. I was coming this way when I felt the can of beer…” recalled Sauzo.
The angry shoplifter cowardly threw some heat with a tall cold one at the owner.
“Right in the head,” said Sauzo.
Seconds after the wild pitch toward his head, Sauzo ran after Diaz but he managed to get away from him.
However, Diaz would not get far as he was picked up by Miami Beach Police on Ocean Drive.
And it isn’t this man’s first run-in with law enforcement.
In 2023, cigar vendor Moraima Lima was sucker punched in the face, leaving her badly injured and hospitalized after crossing paths with Diaz.
“He came, and he gave me, ‘pah-kah-tah!’” she said. “When he punched me, I believe that he tried to kill me.”
Diaz was arrested for the South Beach attack in 2023.
Court records show he’s been arrested on Ocean Drive and nearby streets multiple times over the years and has amassed enough mugshots for a photo album.
Now, his latest alleged attack has Sauzo hoping Diaz is kept off the street for a while.
“There needs to be something done with this guy. We can’t have that guy on the streets of Miami Beach,” he said.
Deli store employees and management tell 7News that Diaz has frequented the store before and never caused any problems until the incident last month.
Diaz is charged with battery and resisting arrest.