LAUDERDALE LAKES, Fla. \u2014 A South Florida family is suing after a violent attack outside an Aldi grocery store in Lauderdale Lakes left a 60-year-old man with life-altering injuries.<\/p>\n
Bruce Reese had gone to the store last October with his pit bull when surveillance video shows him walking through the aisles before getting into a verbal confrontation with another customer, who was reportedly upset about the leashed dog.<\/p>\n
According to the family, that man waited for Reese to exit the store — then sucker-punched him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was on life support in a coma for weeks — he is now profoundly brain damaged and he\u2019s incapable of living anything close to a normal independent life,\u201d said family attorney Justin Shapiro.<\/p>\n
After a dayslong manhunt, detectives arrested Dandrea Johnson on a felony battery charge.<\/p>\n
Reese has since been released from the hospital, but his son says his recovery has been devastating.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day is \u2018Groundhog Day,\u2019 trying to get him to remember things and get him to remember who he is,\u201d said Brandon Reese. \u201cThings happening and what\u2019s going on in the world around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, the family has filed a civil lawsuit against the Aldi store where the attack happened, along with Johnson and DF Security, the private company contracted to provide security at that location.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should\u2019ve chimed in to de-escalate the situation. He should\u2019ve asked the assailant to calm down or threaten to call the police. He did nothing,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cAnd by doing nothing, that emboldened the assailant to take things to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Aldi would\u2019ve just done their job in what the standard was for security — my dad would be the same,\u201d Brandon Reese added.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit is seeking more than $30 million in damages. It cites crime in the surrounding area and a failure by security and store employees to intervene during the confrontation as reasons the store should be considered negligent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to take care of him like he\u2019s our child,\u201d Brandon Reese said. \u201cIt\u2019s a whole new weight in life I never thought we would experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
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