MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Two men asked a man for money on Saturday at a gas station in Miami Gardens, and when he told them he didn’t have any to give away, the duo brutally beat him up and stole his pickup truck, according to police.
Shortly after 8:45 a.m., Miami Gardens police officers responded to the Marathon gas station, at 4699 NW 183 St. They found an injured man, older than 65 years old, wearing “a blood-soaked shirt,” according to police.
The man appeared to have “a laceration above his right eyebrow” and “significant swelling to his right eye,” but an intensive care unit nurse later reported he had suffered “severe injuries to his neck and head, including bleeding on the brain,” according to a police report.
Fire rescue personnel flew the man to the HCA Florida Aventura Hospital. At 5 p.m., Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies saw the stolen pickup truck near Northwest Seventh Avenue and 109 Street with three men, including Christian Sarmiento and Ktwon Bailey, both carjacking suspects, records show.
Surveillance video shows Sarmiento, 27, and Bailey, 33, who deputies found in the stolen white 1987 GMC pickup truck, harassing the victim at the gas station in Miami Gardens, according to the police arrest report.
“Both suspects are observed closing the door and preventing the victim from entering the store ... Both suspects approach the vehicle ... preventing him from driving away,” a police officer wrote about the violent carjacking, according to an arrest report.
Miami Gardens police officers had issued Bailey a trespass warning, and surveillance video shows he violated an order to stay away from the gas station until May 30, according to police.
Shortly after 10:05 p.m., Miami-Dade corrections booked Sarmiento and Bailey at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Sarmiento faced five charges in two new cases: Third-degree grand theft auto, attempted murder, false imprisonment, aggravated battery during a robbery and carjacking, and aggravated battery on a person older than 65 years old.
Bailey faced six charges in two new cases: Resisting an officer without violence, attempted murder, false imprisonment, aggravated battery during a robbery and carjacking, aggravated battery on a person older than 65 years old, and trespassing after warning.
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.
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