Man Charged With Murder In Miami Beach Market Assault
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) – Charges have been upgraded against a man who backhanded another man at a Miami Beach food market.
Witnesses told Miami Beach Police that Mohammed A. Hussein, 58, a father of two, was standing in line at the M & L Food Market located at 7446 Collins Ave., when Roger Perry reportedly started checking out in the wrong lane.
Surveillance footage that captured the December 1st altercation, shows Hussein confronting Perry. The checkout counter seen in the video is for small purchases at the market.
Perry, 53, continued to unload groceries from his basket until the conversation got so heated that he backhanded Hussein, who fell to the ground and banged his head.
Paramedics rushed the unconscious man to the Ryder Medical Center where he was diagnosed as being in a coma with severe brain bleeding.
Miami Beach Police said Perry fled the scene and was located in Palm Beach County 11 days later and charged with Felony Battery. According to the arrest affidavit, Perry confessed to hitting Hussein.
Watch CBS4 Natalia Zea's report
Over the weekend Hussein died. An autopsy report concluded that he died of "Complications of Blunt Head Injury."
On Monday, Perry was returned to the Miami-Dade County jail.
During a hearing on Tuesday, he found out that Hussein didn't survive the punch.
"Did that man pass away," he asked the judge.
The charge against Perry has been upgraded to Second Degree Murder.
"There's no words to describe how we feel right now," said Hussein's brother-in-law Rayan Uddin.
"He was such a good man he, never deserved this to happen to him," said Hussein's nephew Rez Chowdhury.
"The injuries that he suffered, if you saw what the injuries were you would have nightmares for the rest of your life," added Uddin.
Perry's attorney told the judge his client was mentally unstable and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
CBS4's Natalia Zea spoke with Perry's next door neighbor of the last for years, John Midra. Midra says Perry told him he is a Marine, and he never saw Perry act in anger or cause trouble in their apartment complex.
"He is not like a temper guy. I see him, we meet in the back at the laundry and he is always smiling to me."
Hussein's family said there's no excuse for what Perry did and they want him locked up for good.
"We want to make sure that he gets justice and that the culprit who's done this gets what he basically deserves," said Uddin.
"If you can just kill someone with one blow, he should not be let free, basically, in society."
Perry's probable cause hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 17th.
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