A 72-year-old man is facing a felony charge after deputies say he got out of his car during a traffic dispute and swung a baseball bat at another driver, striking him in the left arm before being knocked to the ground. The confrontation unfolded Thursday near Southwest 147th Avenue and Southwest 104th Street in the Hammocks area of West Kendall, according to authorities.
Carlos Enrique Azuero and the victim were driving southbound on Southwest 147th Avenue when the road rage incident began, according to the victim's account as reported by WPLG Local 10. Deputies said both drivers eventually pulled over and exited their vehicles, at which point Azuero approached the victim carrying a baseball bat and swung it at him, striking his left arm. The stretch of roadway where the confrontation occurred is a heavily traveled north-south corridor connecting suburban Kendall housing developments to nearby Kendall Drive, according to the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization.
Victim Says He Fought Back After Being Struck
The victim told deputies he knocked Azuero down and punched him twice in self-defense after being hit with the bat. The station's report notes that Azuero gave a similar account of how the physical altercation unfolded, and that both men later refused medical treatment at the scene. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to the location, and a deputy had been dispatched to the area at approximately 4:52 p.m.
Investigators determined that Azuero was the primary aggressor because he was the one who exited his vehicle armed with the bat, according to the arrest report issued by the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. Under Florida's self-defense statutes, a person may use reasonable physical force to protect themselves from an unlawful threat of imminent harm as long as they were not the initial aggressor, according to Florida Gun & Gold, a framework that appears to underpin investigators' conclusion that the victim's punches were lawful.
Suspect Taken for Medical Clearance Before Booking
Despite initially declining treatment, Azuero was transported to Jackson West Medical Center for medical clearance before he could be booked. The Doral hospital, which opened in August 2021, houses the 100-bed José Milton Memorial Hospital along with a 24-hour emergency department, according to Jackson Health System. After clearance, he was taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, the county's primary intake and booking facility located at 7000 NW 41st Street in Miami, which has capacity for 1,300 inmates according to Miami-Dade County records.
Azuero was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony under Florida Statute § 784.045 that carries up to 15 years in state prison and fines as high as $10,000. Under Florida legal precedent, a blunt object used in a manner likely to cause serious bodily harm can be legally classified as a deadly weapon, which appears to be the basis for the felony charge in this case. As of Friday morning, Azuero remained in custody at TGK, with his bond listed as to be set in online jail records. Under standard Miami-Dade County procedure, defendants held without a pre-set bond typically appear before a judge within 24 hours of booking, when bail amounts and release terms are established.
Part of a Wider Pattern on Miami-Dade Roads
The case adds to a string of recent Miami-Dade road rage incidents involving weapons, including a West Kendall driver who pulled a gun after causing a crash last month, and a separate case in July in which a Miami-Dade man swung a metal umbrella during a traffic disagreement. Baseball bats and other blunt objects have surfaced in similar confrontations elsewhere in Florida, including a December 2025 case in Lee County where a driver allegedly attacked a semi-truck driver with a bat, according to MotorBiscuit.
Statewide, fatal road rage crashes surged 200% year-over-year, climbing from 12 deaths in 2023 to 36 in 2024, according to an analysis of federal crash data reported by the Boca Raton Tribune. Miami itself ranked fifth among major U.S. cities for road rage incidents in a national traffic safety study published in March 2025, with severe congestion and long commute times cited as key drivers of motorist anger, according to Florida Politics. Statewide, aggressive or reckless driving led to 6,297 crashes in 2023 alone, causing 100 deaths and 318 severe injuries, per data cited by JustCallMoe.
