We’re all tired and grumpy and at our wit’s end by the time we get the kids out the door to head for school. But one pair of moms from Florida (where else?) took cantankerous to a whole new level this week, injuring one another with a broken coffee cup at their children’s bus stop.
The two women — one of whom, Tiffani Cruz, spoke with reporters after being released from the hospital — apparently came to blows following an argument about parenting. You know how those go. First you’re discussing breast vs. bottle, and the next thing you know, you’re attempting to stab each other to death with fractured kitchenware. So relatable, amirite?
Cruz claims the bad blood stems from weeks earlier, when she confronted the other mom for yelling at another child (not belonging to either of them) at the bus stop. It would seem they’d both had enough of each other by Tuesday morning, however, when Cruz smashed her mug over the other mom’s head, starting the bloody brawl.
Cruz’s foe, whom police have yet to identify, sprang into action following the attack, picking up shards of glass and stabbing Cruz with them in the wrist and shoulder. As one does when there’s a disagreement among frenemies, apparently. Police say the shards were then used in a “slashing manner,” landing both women in the hospital, with the unidentified one having to be airlifted due to a serious throat injury. Criminy.
Cruz maintains her decision to nearly brain the other mom was an act of self-defense. When asked why she did it, Cruz stated:
Because she hit me. She got this close to my face nudged me with her nose and when she nudged me with her nose— it was her fist going up so my fist was going up.
Mmm hmm. OK. My first reaction is usually to attempt to disembowel my opponent with my car keys, but hey, fracturing her skull with my latte is a close second, so that’s totally normal.
Witnesses of the incident included other parents and, way worse than anything, children. One of them, Eithan Cruz (no relation to Tiffani), said he and his brother, Bairon Velazquez, saw the whole thing from the back window of the bus. That won’t scar them for life or anything. They’ll be fine probably.
Charges are pending (against whom, we’re not sure), and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Victims Assistance Unit is ready and waiting to help any children and families who need support in this time of WTF.
For her part, Cruz says she regrets what happened: “There’s no reason it should have happened. We’re adults.” ← Allegedly.