Elderly Man Recovering After Vicious Beating
MIAMI (CBS4) - An 88 year old Miami man is recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital after a vicious beating by a young man demanding money.
Family members of Felix Espinosa say the attack was so severe, it left his face almost unrecognizable.
"His face was beaten and swollen. Blood was coming from his mouth and his eyes," his niece Nereida Santana told CBS4's Natalia Zea in Spanish.
Santana says her uncle is a good man who enjoys playing dominoes. Though his body is weakened from diabetes and a heart condition, Santana says his mind is as sharp as ever.
"He is very calm. He doesn't mess with anyone or anything," said Santana.
Every day Espinosa takes the bus to a clinic that serves the elderly lunch. On his way to that cafeteria, he made it to SW 7th Street and 10th Avenue where he received the worst beating of his life.
According to the police report, Espinosa was waiting at a bus stop when he says the man in his 20's approached him and demanded money. He says he didn't have any money and that's when the man began hitting him and the attack was so vicious that Espinosa didn't even know whether he was using an object or just his bare hands.
After the attack police say Espinosa worried he couldn't afford an ambulance so he stumbled back to his Little Havana apartment and tried to clean the blood. When he stepped back onto the street a construction worker noticed his injuries and called 911.
"He was all alone, what could he do? He's a very old man," said Santana.
"What do you want to tell the man that did this to your uncle?" asked Zea.
"He is an abuser who must pay for his crime," said Santana. "He is a monster."
