Former Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal was arrested this week after he allegedly threw rocks at and injured another man last month in a Publix parking lot in Sunrise, Fla.
Charges were filed Monday against Furcal for the second-degree felonies of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and throwing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle. On Wednesday, Furcal turned himself in at the Broward County jail and was released on bail the same day.
The Sunrise Police Department’s investigation into the incident remains active.
According to the arrest affidavit, which was viewed by The Times, the incident took place in the afternoon of April 28 after Furcal and his accuser — a man whose name was redacted from the affidavit — nearly collided while driving their pickup trucks outside the grocery store.
Furcal allegedly got out of his truck and threw rocks and a plastic water bottle at the accuser’s vehicle while the man was still inside it, but “didn’t cause any substantial damage,” the affidavit said.
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After the accuser got out of his truck to confront him, the affidavit said, Furcal threw a rock “the size of a small palm” at the other man, who used his left hand to block it. The accuser then chased Furcal and “hit him a couple of times with his fists,” the affidavit said, before the former MLB player “ran back to his truck and fled the scene.”
Furcal told Z101 Digital on Thursday that he threw the rock at his accuser after the man had attacked him with a knife. The affidavit does not mention the alleged knife attack. The former Dodgers player also said he turned himself in after visiting with his son at college and was back home with his family.
Days later, the accuser told Det. Jason Jolicoeur that his hand needed five stitches where it was allegedly hit by the rock and that he also had “extensive bruising on the right side of his body and his left arm.” He added that Furcal pointed out that the accuser was bleeding before leaving the scene.
A witness provided Furcal’s license plate number, Jolicoeur wrote. After Jolicoeur identified Furcal through law enforcement databases, the detective wrote, the accuser positively identified Furcal as the suspect in a photo lineup.
Jolicoeur also noted that Furcal “made no attempt during or after the incident to contact Law Enforcement to report what occurred.”
A three-time All Star, Furcal played six seasons with the Atlanta Braves before signing with the Dodgers as a free agent before the 2006 season. He remained in Los Angeles until being traded to St. Louis in July 2011, then won the World Series with the Cardinals that October.
He played his final MLB season, with the Miami Marlins, in 2014.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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