Girlfriend Of Groundskeeper Run Over In Dispute Speaks Out
This story was updated on November 12, 2019
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The case against a South Florida man who was originally charged with murdering a groundskeeper following a dispute over money, pled nolo contendere to misdemeanor culpuable negligence and given one year of probation, according to court documents.
Issa Asad was also ordered to pay a $225 fine.
Below is the original article.
DANIA BEACH (CBSMiami) – The girlfriend of a groundskeeper who police say was deliberately run over is speaking out about the tragedy.
Mike Kramer, 51, was in a coma days before passing away after he was reportedly run over by a car, driven by Issa Asad, in a Dania Beach shopping plaza parking lot earlier this month.
Police say Asad, Kramer's employer, threatened to run him over after an argument over money--$65 that Kramer said Asad owed him for his work.
Christine McCool, Kramer's girlfriend, is still trying to make sense of the situation.
"Well he did owe it to him. For many years Mike would always argue with him over his money, a man who had great power, which I don't understand and I will don't understand. Why would you take someone away for a lousy $65?" said McCool.
According to Broward Sheriff's Office, the two men were having the argument on July 5th after Asad and Kramer disagreed on how much the worker should be paid. BSO said a witness recalled that Asad refused and threatened to run Kramer over with his Mercedes.
"Are you going to run me over?" a BSO news release quoted Kramer as saying.
"If you don't move, I'm going to run you over," the release says Asad replied.
Investigators say Asad stepped on the gas and ran Kramer over with the front and back wheels of his car.
"I'm angry and I'm hurt," said McCool. "Over a lousy $65 he literally crushed his head. He had multiple, and I mean multiple, fractures to his head. If he would've lived, he would've been paralyzed for the rest of his life."
Asad, who was initially arrested and charged with aggravated battery, now faces a murder charge.
"I hope he gets the death penalty—and I don't wish that on nobody but that's what he did to Mike," said McCool. "He took his life and so that's what I hope for him."
CBS4 reached out to Asad's family but they did not want to comment on the case.
Asad faces a first-degree murder charge and is being held without bond.
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