Miami-Dade Police look for suspect in tomato fight that left man with broken neck

Miami Herald ^ | February 15, 2010 | Adam H. Beasley and Robert Samuels

[ConservativeStatement]

A dispute over a tomato in South Miami-Dade sent a Miami Beach man to the hospital with a fractured neck and left police scrambling to identify his attacker.

Robert Lerner, 44, was on his way to the Redland area for a photo shoot with his 10-year-old daughter just after 9 a.m. on Jan. 28 when she became fascinated by the sight of a tomato field.

[ConservativeStatement]

It's a fruit, no it's a vegetable. A fruit! A vegetable!

[Eyes Unclouded]

Must have thrown it pretty hard.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Well, if he was the owner of the tomatoes, then he ought to be able to find easily and he was correct, the guy WAS stealing them. But you don’t put a ju jitsu move on the guy and throw him to the ground, you call the police.

[RedMDer]

[umgud]

Tomato Tomoto.............

[STARWISE]

That’s my old neighborhood ...!! Tomato and
veggie fields were everywhere around there
out in the Redlands, and when the farmers
abandoned them for the season, it was free
takins’ .. it was SO fantastic!

But those farmers get REAL sensitive IN
season, and I’m sure it’s worse today with
all the horrendous weather they’ve had this
winter and much reduced harvest.

Poor fella got a real hurtin’ put on him.

Video:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/videobeta/?watchId=36682da7-673d-425d-8070-310533430cc0

Getaway Jeep

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/crime/sfl-tomato-fight-021510-photo-2,0,7629921.photo

[Drew68]

I tried to explain it was just one tomato.

That's exactly what the last 100 people who came by to pick tomatoes said.

[Krankor]

Apparently, the guy's lucky he's not a vegetable.

[ConservativeStatement]

Wow, that video is alarming. Where is that, 25-30 miles south of Kendall?

[STARWISE]

The Redlands are about 10 mi south and west of Kendall, way farther west than this map .. about to the Everglades.

more info.

[Lancey Howard]

Good point.

[Oztrich Boy]

Tomato fight? They’re soft and squishy. This sounds suss.

[paulycy]

So Lerner, driving west on Southwest 288th Street, pulled over at a field between Southwest 172nd and 177th avenues so she could pick one. That's when it got ugly. A man, claiming to be the owner, parked his Jeep Wrangler in front of him. "He was yelling and calling us thieves,"

Well, there's a very good reason for that. Nice lesson for your daughter.