A man with an extensive criminal record was arrested this Thursday in Miami after punching a 61-year-old woman in the face while she was walking calmly along Calle Ocho, in the heart of Little Havana
The incident occurred shortly after noon, near the intersection of Southwest 8th Street and 11th Avenue, as reported by Telemundo 51.
The victim was walking east when Tavaris Dewand Greene, 40 years old - who was moving in the opposite direction - suddenly lunged at her without a word or any provocation and struck her hard in the face.
The impact was so violent that the woman fell to the ground and hit her head against the concrete.
Greene ran westward while several passersby rushed to assist the victim.
Everything was recorded by the security cameras of the Calle Ocho Sports Bar and Grill, a business located across from the site of the attack.
According to Local 10, the victim was transported to HCA Florida Mercy Hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with a broken nose and a laceration on her left cheek that required stitches.
The testimony of the business owner
Mónica Zapata, owner of the Calle Ocho Sports Bar and Grill, was one of the first to arrive at the scene and described what she saw with evident shock.
“I saw that there was chaos happening here. The lady was covered in blood. Two women were trying to help her, but they seemed lost... she was lying on the floor and they couldn’t stop her.”, Zapata told Telemundo 51.
The merchant called 911, brought a chair for the victim, and waited with her until the paramedics arrived. Upon reviewing the footage from her cameras, she understood the magnitude of what had happened.
“She was walking normally, calm, and all of a sudden she got hit… she was hit so hard that it knocked her down,” she described.
Zapata also noted that the victim lost consciousness: "Her face was shattered, and her nose was crushed. The poor woman was in bad shape and was losing a lot of blood."
After learning about the aggressor's background, the business owner did not hide her outrage.
“No one deserves that. That man apparently has mental health issues and they keep letting him out. How long will this continue? How far will we go?” he asked NBC Miami.
The arrest and the suspect's history
The Miami police arrested Greene approximately eight hours after the attack, when an officer who regularly patrols the area recognized him in the surveillance footage due to "previous incidents."
They found him several blocks from the location, near Southwest 17th Avenue and Eighth Street.
What Greene said upon arriving at the Violent Crimes Unit was revealing: according to the police report cited by Local 10, the suspect "spontaneously stated that he was fine but that he had a bad day because he had hit someone."
Later, he confessed to the detectives that after the assault, he returned home, took a nap, smoked marijuana, and was arrested afterward.
Greene, who is listed as homeless in his arrest report, has an extensive criminal record: he was incarcerated from 2008 and released in 2012, arrested again in 2019 for physical assault and in February 2025 for petty theft. NBC Miami also reported that he served time in prison in 2011 for robbery and burglary.
Neighbors and merchants in the area asserted that Greene was a well-known figure in the sector.
"The neighbors say that he wanders around here talking to himself," commented Zapata.
The suspect was charged with aggravated battery and transferred to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where his bail was pending to be set. The motive for the attack remains unclear.
This case adds to a series of random violent attacks that have raised alarm in South Florida throughout 2026 and has rekindled the debate on the management of individuals with potential mental health issues on the streets of Miami and the effectiveness of the judicial system in preventing recidivism.
Filed under: