LAUDERDALE LAKES, Fla. – A routine grocery run at an Aldi ended with a 60-year-old shopper in a coma, and now his family is taking the supermarket and its security team to court. The family has filed a civil lawsuit saying a sucker-punch outside the Lauderdale Lakes store last October left the man so severely brain damaged that he can no longer live on his own. The suit targets the supermarket chain, the alleged attacker and the private security company that worked the store, and seeks more than $30 million in damages.
The complaint, according to Local 10, names Aldi, 45-year-old Dandrea Johnson and DF Security, the firm contracted to provide security at the Lauderdale Lakes location. The family says a heated back-and-forth inside the store over the victim’s leashed service dog spiraled into violence when employees and security guards failed to cool things down. That alleged inaction, the suit argues, “emboldened the assailant to take things to the next level.” The filing seeks more than $30 million to cover long-term medical care, lost income and other damages.
Surveillance video from Oct. 11 captures the argument inside the store, then shows the suspect lingering near the exit before landing a single punch that knocked the shopper to the ground, where he hit his head, authorities said. As reported by CBS Miami, Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Johnson on Oct. 22 and charged him with felony battery causing great bodily harm, and a judge set his bond at $100,000. Before the arrest, deputies released surveillance images and appealed to the public for help identifying the attacker, a move picked up by multiple outlets including Law & Crime…