83-year-old man sucker punched in Chelsea describes moments leading up to attack

Wednesday, August 6, 2025
CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) -- An 83-year-old man is speaking out after a suspect was caught on video sucker punching him in the face in Manhattan last week.

After 46 years as the super of a building in Chelsea, the victim, Candido Molina, thought he had seen it all.

He's slower now at 83 years old, but last week, he was out front like always, washing down the sidewalk in front of his building near 17thStreet and Eighth Avenue.

In video obtained by Eyewitness News, a young man on a Citi Bike dismounts, approaches Molina and sucker punches him in the face, before running off.



"He didn't say nothing," Molina said. "Just started running and laughing."



Molina says it started with the man and some friends passing by the building, who threw an object at Molina's wife, who was sitting on the stoop.

Candido Molina, who had been holding a hose, sprayed one of the men, and that set him off.

"And then the guy came back and punched me here in the face... punched me here in my nose," Molina said.

Police released a freezeframe of the video, in hopes someone might recognize the man who punched and 83-year-old victim in the face, and then laughed about it.



"All these years it never happened before," Molina said.



It will take a lot more than that punch to knock down Molina, but the police want to catch the guy who did this.

The NYPD hopes that anyone who recognizes the suspect from the video will give them a call.



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