Nationwide — Elmoncy Sercle, a 28-year-old African American man from Miami, Florida, has been arrested after police said he ran over a woman with his SUV when she refused to let him smell her feet while she was meeting him to sell a pair of sneakers outside a hotel.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said she met Sercle on Sunday afternoon at the Serena Hotel to sell him a pair of used sneakers.
She said the meeting took a bizarre turn when Sercle asked to sniff her feet instead of buying the shoes. She refused, offering him the sneakers but making it clear that he could not have anything else.
She said Sercle then ran out of the room with what she thought were her shoes. She followed him to the parking lot, where he got into his SUV, made a three-point turn, and hit her with the vehicle.
“By the grace of God, I’m still standing today,” the woman told Local 10 News, adding that the encounter was frightening and unlike anything she had experienced before.
Police later arrested Sercle on a charge of aggravated battery. Investigators said he has been linked to other cases with a similar pattern. Authorities are reviewing hotel surveillance footage as part of the investigation.