According to MTA authorities, a homeless male who had previously been released without bond for inexplicably fracturing a woman’s nose proceeded to punch a 9-year-old girl in the face at Grand Central Station.
Just before noon, the 30-year-old Jean Carlos Zarzuela was apprehended for reportedly socking the child as she stood with her shocked mother in the dining section of the station.
Attending medics brought the child to Tisch Hospital at NYU Langone for further care.
The media quickly revealed photographs and the name of the homeless man, Zarzuela, when footage of him was taken inside a transportation station immediately after the assault.
At the East 125th St. subway station, MTA detectives approached NYPD transit cops for assistance after learning that Zarzuela’s last known residence was a homeless shelter. Zarzuela was located almost ten minutes earlier when NYPD officers recognized his picture. The policemen from the MTA took Zarzuela into custody that night.
On April 4, Zarzuela allegedly punched a 56-year-old woman at Grand Central Station. He was initially charged with criminal assault by MTA officers, but the Manhattan prosecutors reduced the case to a misdemeanor.
Law enforcement and prosecutors must get a victim’s supporting deposition within five days of a bail hearing. The victim’s failure to do so resulted in the ruling.
A Manhattan criminal court judge, Pamela Goldsmith, set him bail at $10,000 or $2,500 cash. Based on the records, he was wanted for assault in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, and a bench warrant was issued.
According to the court system’s online docket, he appeared before Judge Laurie Peterson of the Manhattan Criminal Court. Days before the girl’s assault, she let him go free without posting a bond.
In March, to fight the increasing crime rate, New York Governor Kathy Hochul sent hundreds of National Guardsmen to examine bags for weapons at the city’s subway stations.
The governor believes that the presence of the guards would assuage New Yorkers’ growing anxiety about taking the train. However, according to Hochul, this is only a stopgap.
