A woman walking to work in Miami's Overtown neighborhood was allegedly chased down, beaten in the face with her own umbrella, and nearly struck by a large rock her attacker hurled at her, according to an arrest report. Richard Kenneth Hughes Jr., 41, was arrested Thursday and now faces two felony charges after police say he randomly targeted the woman with no apparent provocation.
Police officers were dispatched to the area near Northwest 1st Court and 6th Street, according to an arrest report cited by WPLG Local 10. Investigators say Hughes approached and followed the woman as she walked to work, then snatched her umbrella and struck her repeatedly in the face with it. She sustained a deep facial laceration that required medical treatment, per the police report.
A witness told investigators that Hughes continued striking the woman even after she had fallen to the ground, leaving her unable to defend herself, according to the witness statement in the report. The witness also said the woman did nothing to provoke the attack. As if the umbrella assault weren't enough, police say Hughes then picked up a large rock and threw it at the victim, narrowly missing her.
Suspect Traveled From Florida's Panhandle
Hughes is identified as a 41-year-old man from Florida's Panhandle, specifically Milton, a Santa Rosa County city near Pensacola that sits roughly 600 miles northwest of Miami, according to background reported by Local 10. Police say Hughes made no statement while being detained. The motive behind the attack remains unclear as of Friday.
Hughes now faces one count of aggravated battery with a weapon or firearm causing great bodily harm and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Under Florida Statute § 784.045, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm with a deadly weapon is a second-degree felony that carries up to 15 years in state prison, 15 years of probation, and a $10,000 fine, according to the Law Offices of David J. Sobel P.A. The aggravated assault count, under Florida Statute § 784.021, is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison or probation and a $5,000 fine, according to criminal defense attorney Tim Flaherty.
The felony-level charges hinge in part on Florida's broad legal definition of a deadly weapon, which can include ordinary objects like an umbrella or a rock when used in a manner likely to cause death or serious injury. A Palm Beach criminal defense attorney notes that intent and the manner of use, not the object itself, determine how prosecutors classify a weapon under state statutes. Hughes was booked at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, a 1,300-bed Miami-Dade County facility at 7000 NW 41st Street, with his bond yet to be set as of Friday.
Second Random Daytime Attack on a Woman That Same Day
The Overtown assault was the second reported random attack on a woman in the Miami area that Thursday. Miami police separately confirmed the arrest of a man accused of randomly punching a woman in Little Havana in an unrelated incident. That case involved 40-year-old Tavaris Greene, who surveillance video allegedly showed sucker-punching a 61-year-old woman on Calle Ocho, near Southwest 8th Street and 10th Avenue, an incident Hoodline previously reported. Local business owners rushed to help the victim with a chair and water while awaiting paramedics, and merchants publicly questioned why a man with prior 2008 and 2011 Florida prison terms for theft and burglary was still on the street, according to reporting shared on Facebook by NBC6.
The Overtown crime scene sits in a historic neighborhood just blocks northwest of Downtown Miami's commercial core, according to Greater Miami & Miami Beach. The area was once home to Miami's original Black Police Precinct and Courthouse, which operated from 1950 until city police integration in 1963 during an era when Black officers were restricted to patrolling Black neighborhoods, according to Historic Preservation Miami. That building now operates as a museum. Separately, in March, urban design scholars from the University of Miami and Pratt Institute launched a joint studio aimed at reimagining pedestrian safety and land use in the corridor connecting Overtown to Downtown, according to University of Miami News, in a neighborhood that lost much of its housing core to highway construction in the 1960s.
Thursday's back-to-back attacks add to a string of violent incidents Hoodline has tracked in the Overtown area in recent months, including an armed golf cart robbery in April and separate cases involving a February assault prosecution and an April 2025 homicide charge in the neighborhood. No additional details on Hughes's motive have been released, and police have not said whether the Overtown and Little Havana attacks are connected.
