The surveillance video showing a seemingly callous hit and run that mowed down a man in a parking lot — breaking his leg — was actually self-defense, according to the attorney for the man who is charged in the case.
Luis Alberto Ferri, 36, turned himself in Tuesday in connection with the Feb. 23 incident in the parking lot of a Publix supermarket at 950 E. Commercial Blvd. in Oakland Park.
Ferri remained in jail Thursday on a bond of $50,000 for a charge of aggravated battery.
Detectives circulated the video on April 3 with the hope someone would recognize and report the man in a red shirt and cap seen entering the Publix minutes before the pedestrian was struck outside.
Security cameras also recorded what looked like a Kia Soul stopping in the parking lot to allow the pedestrian to pass in front, but the driver hit the gas before the pedestrian was clear and then drove off south on North Dixie Highway.
That’s not how it happened, according to Ferri’s attorney Orlando Bush.
“The reality is the alleged victim in this case was beating somebody up at a bus stop and there were several people there,” he said by phone at Ferri’s first court appearance Wednesday.
“My client went back to see what happened, how the real victim in this case was doing,” Bush said. “That’s when this gentleman came up and …he was turning around toward my client and my client was afraid for his life.”
Assistant Broward state attorney Eric Linder countered Ferri could have done a number of things to avoid a confrontation other than hit the pedestrian with a car.
“Somebody standing in front of somebody’s vehicle yelling at them is not grounds to run them over, run them down,” he said. “[Ferri] could have gone in reverse. He had other options.”
News media reports that showed the video generated tips that helped identify Ferri who had a beard in the video but was clean-shaven when he surrendered, investigators said.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said Ferri has a history of arrests on charges that include battery, drug possession and probation violation.
Investigators are asking anyone with additional information to contact Detective Mirelle Palushaj at 954-321-4226. Anonymous tips can be given to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 or online at browardcrimestoppers.org.
wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan
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