EXCLUSIVE: 73-year-old shove victim speaks about traumatizing attack in Midtown
MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) -- A 73-year-old man is traumatized after a brutal attack in Midtown over the weekend.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, lives in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and was coming into the city to restart a weekend tradition: buy a lottery ticket and attend Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
But he never made it.
Instead, he ended up face down on 8th Avenue, bleeding, and calling for help. He had been attacked by a man who called him names and tried to steal his wallet.
"He kept kicking me and asking for wallet," the victim said. "He was saying something, probably a threatening slang word, which I didn't understand at all. So he shoved me so hard and I went down."
The man suffered a cut to his face and bruises, one eye now swollen shut and purple.
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The victim said a tall gentleman approached, and that's when the attacker ran.
He was horrified to find out that just 12 minutes later, police say the same suspect tried to mug another man two blocks away.
Police arrested 44-year-old Dominic Staton, who is homeless and has nine prior arrests, including three in February, one involving a knife, another for arson.
Officers recognized Stanton as the suspect in the assault Monday morning while he was being treated at Harlem Hospital.
Stanton was also charged in an attempted robbery of a 25-year-old man at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 42nd Street. The one that took place just minutes after the initial assault.
He's not being charged with a hate crime in this case because no specific anti-Asian comments were made, but the 73-year-old victim insists this was a hate crime.
"You got to do something about all this hate and attacks on Asian people," he said.
Now, the victim of the assault is unsure if he'll ever return to the city again, forgoing his beloved tradition out of fear.
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