FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Rodolfo Rodriguez was working as a valet attendant Tuesday night at the Ocean Sky Resort in Fort Lauderdale when a man attacked him.
Surveillance video shows Rodriguez on the ground. Rodriguez said he told the man the parking service was $18 a day. When the man refused to pay or move his pickup truck, he warned him that he could get towed.
That's when the man punched him.
"This guy is crazy," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he doesn't remember much after he was knocked out, but he said the man who punched him told him that he didn't want to pay to valet his truck.
The surveillance video also shows a woman in red shorts having a conversation with the valet attendant. Seemingly unhappy about the outcome, she walks inside to see hotel manager Mark Dyer.
"She said, 'Yeah, I'm not too happy with the parking situation,' so we had a brief two to three minute exchange," Dyer said. "During that exchange, I faced to the left of me, and I saw the valet being punched."
Dyer said the man claimed that he was driving an $80,000 vehicle and shouldn't have to pay for parking.
"It basically doesn't really make a difference what the valet said to you," Dyer said he told the man. "You have no right to put your hands on another individual like that."
Fort Lauderdale police Capt. Frank Sousa said detectives didn't see the video until Friday and are investigating the incident.
A police report won't be available until Monday.
