Dart hits man’s back as he walks to his job in Pompano Beach

Lusthene Joseph was walking from his bus stop to his job at a Pompano Beach bakery when a dart was launched through the predawn darkness and struck his back.

The feathered projectile pushed through Joseph’s shirt and several inches into his torso. He believes it was catapulted from inside a passing sedan early Tuesday morning.

At first Joseph, 58, of Deerfield Beach, thought he was struck by a rock, or perhaps debris from a shredded tire. And then he felt the left side of his back.

“I was afraid,” Joseph said in Creole.

Since he had not fallen down, he feared whoever was inside the car might come back to take aim at him again.

Joseph crossed the railroad tracks in the 2300 block of North Dixie Highway and took shelter in the shadows.

Not sure at first what to do, Joseph called a relative and then police. Deputies from the Broward Sheriff ’s Office arrived.

“They told me they had never seen anything like this before,” Joseph said. The police report describes the weapon as a crossbow, or a bow and arrow.

Deputies looked for witnesses but none were found.

Joseph said he was able to get into an ambulance on his own. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue took him to Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach, where he was sedated and the dart was removed. The wound was not lifethreatening, but it did shake his confidence.

“I am feeling better from the way I was before,” Joseph said.

But if he sneezes or moves, he said, the bandaged wound hurts.

“The doctors told me I was very lucky it didn’t hit any organs,” he said.

Deputies were going to have the dart examined for fingerprints and possibly test it for DNA, according to the police report.

As for any concerns that there may have been poison on the dart’s tip, Joseph relied on his faith. “It’s up to God,” he said. “It’s because of God it didn’t do more damage inside of me.”