More than four years after a man was caught on camera knocking out an elderly man outside a Walgreens store in Dania Beach, prosecutors have charged him with manslaughter following the man's death.
Zackterrus Thomas, 35, appeared in a Broward County courtroom Tuesday where he was arraigned on the new charge.
Thomas, who pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated battery on a person over 65 in the attack in 2019, was sentenced to three years in prison and was scheduled to be released in March of 2022, according to records from the Florida Department of Corrections.
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The incident happened on July 4, 2017, outside the front doors of the Walgreens in the 200 block of S. Federal Highway.
The Broward Sheriff's Office released surveillance footage of the violent encounter between Thomas and Anthony DePaul, who was 68 at the time.
According to an arrest report, Thomas and DePaul, who had almost been involved in a collision in the parking lot, got out of their cars and approached each other near the store entrance.
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The surveillance footage showed Thomas, who had a young boy with him, exchange words with DePaul before he punched DePaul in the face. Thomas hit DePaul multiple times until he fell to the ground, the report said.
When deputies arrived, DePaul was lying in the parking lot unconscious with lacerations on his face. He was taken to the hospital where it was determined he had a broken jaw and bleeding to his brain.
The arrest report said DePaul remained in hospital care before he was eventually brought to a medical after care facility in Pennsylvania. DePaul died on Nov. 30, 2019.
An autopsy was performed and DePaul's manner of death was determined to be homicide, and his cause of death was complications of a traumatic brain injury, the arrest report said.
Shortly after the attack, DePaul's son spoke with NBC 6.
"I am shocked and like stunned, like, how did this happen? Just like, why did it happen?" said Armany DePaul.
In court Tuesday, Thomas was appointed a public defender and given a $150,000 bond on the new charge.
