FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Broward prosecutors have formally filed felony charges against ex-Major League Baseball shortstop Rafael Furcal after police accused him of an April rock-throwing road rage incident in Sunrise, according to court records obtained Monday.
But the three-time All-Star’s attorney maintains his client was the real victim.
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Documents electronically filed on Tuesday show that Furcal, 47, of Weston, best known for his time on the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers, was officially charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and shooting or throwing a deadly missile.
Sunrise police said the 2000 National League Rookie of the Year pelted rocks at a man’s work truck behind the Publix at 12500 W. Sunrise Blvd. after he and the victim nearly got into a crash in the store’s parking lot.
Authorities said that after the man got out of his truck, Furcal threw a rock at him, injuring him.
Police said the victim reported chasing and punching Furcal after being hit with the rock. Furcal, police said, then “ran back to his truck and fled the scene.”
Body camera video obtained by Local 10 News showed the aftermath of the alleged incident.
In a statement to Local 10 News on Monday, Furcal’s Kendall-based attorney, Orlando Rodriguez, said the decorated athlete was “unequivocally” the victim of a road rage attack “during which he was physically assaulted with a box cutter.”
Furcal, Rodriguez said, “was unarmed and acted purely in self-defense, using the only means available to protect himself. In the course of defending himself, a rock was used as a defensive tool in an effort to neutralize the immediate and life-threatening danger.
“Any reference to a ‘deadly weapon’ or a ‘deadly missile’ refers to this improvised object used solely out of necessity in a chaotic and violent moment.”
Rodriguez said Furcal has been “fully cooperative” and said in a commitment to “full transparency,” his firm has hired a private investigator to locate video footage of the incident, which, if found, “will be released to the public immediately.”
“Mr. Furcal is anxious to clear his name and restore his reputation,” Rodriguez concluded. “He looks forward to a thorough review of the facts and is confident that the truth will prevail.”