Halloween is a time for trick-or-treating when you are young. As people get older, the celebration may turn to costume parties and time spent out on the town. During this past Halloween, a 40-year-old man was sucker punched causing him to fall and hit his head. He died later that night. Police are still looking for the man who threw the punch. Bars and nightclubs are often the site of fights and assaults of this type. The owners of these establishments are responsible for providing safe and secure premises for the patrons. Some owners take this responsibility more seriously than others.
Property owners can be held liable for the criminal acts of others on their premises. The issue most often arises at bars, hotels, restaurants, apartment buildings and retail establishments. Individual homeowners can also be held liable in certain circumstances. Issues such as insufficient lighting, hours of operation, prior incidents of violence, and the security steps taken by the property owner to ensure that visitors onto the property are safe and secure may all be taken into account in bringing a premises liability claim against the owner of an establishment.
The man who threw the punch that cost another man his life was caught on video surveillance by the restaurant, Taverna Opa. Anyone with information regarding the identity of the man is asked to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers by calling 305-471-TIPS.
Source: Sunbeam Television Corp., “Police search for man who threw a deadly punch,” 14 November 2012
