Man behind bars after bashing another man’s head with a chunk of sidewalk, police say

An Allapattah man is behind bars after being accused of beating another man to death with a chunk of broken sidewalk.

Albert William Bethea was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on Tuesday. The 58-year-old is being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.

The charges allegedly stem back to Jan. 25, when police found a man bleeding from his head near Northwest 2nd Avenue and Northwest 8th Street in Overtown.

Witnesses told police that they saw a man walking past Bethea when — unprovoked — he sucker punched Bethea, according to a police report. Bethea subsequently dashed toward a piece of broken sidewalk and bashed in the victim’s head with it four times.

At this point, police say, the victim was no longer a threat to Bethea.

But he didn’t stop there, per the report. Bethea then tossed the broken piece of sidewalk, instead opting to stomp on the victim’s head with his boots.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue transported the victim, who suffered a brain bleed, to Ryder Trauma Center. He died on Sunday, more than five weeks after the attack.

A witness told police they saw Bethea beating the victim. A hospital nurse, the witness shoved Bethea out of the way to give first aid to the victim.

Another witness reported that Bethea walked past him, blurting out: “I did not shoot him.”

At some point, Bethea was detained in a nearby park. Miami-Dade police say he had blood all over his body: on the right side of his head, his pant legs and his boots.

Police collected the chunk of sidewalk and the bloody boots, according to the report. One of the four witnesses identified Bethea as the attacker.