QUEENS — Police arrested a man on Monday accused of punching a 69-year-old woman after trying to steal a Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita from a bodega.
Richard "Kwasi" Springer, 29, has been charged with assaulting the woman, who suffered serious head injuries, and a deli clerk in an incident which took place on Sutphin Boulevard a little over two weeks ago, the Queens District Attorney's office said Tuesday.
It began when Springer snatched the margarita-flavored beer and threw a dollar on the floor on Oct. 15 about 8:10 a.m., said staff at the Sutphin King Deli and Grill at 107-60 Sutphin Blvd., near 108th Avenue.
One of the clerks, Methaq Algabyali, 18, picked up the money and started arguing with Springer.
"We started fighting. He pushed me and I pushed him back. He punched me in the face," Algabyali said.
While the pair grappled for two minutes two women approached the deli, surveillance video shows. One woman, Eve Gentillon, waited outside. As Springer left the bodega he punched Gentillon in the face, who then fell onto the sidewalk.
A retired home health aide, Gentillon sustained serious injuries and was treated at Jamaica Hospital. Her daughter, Marie Gentillon, said she suffered brain hemorrhaging.
She later had to undergo emergency surgery and had a piece of her skull removed due to a subdural hematoma in her brain, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Springer was awaiting arraignment Tuesday in Queens Criminal Court on charges of assault and harassment, according to the Queens DA's office.
If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.
“The defendant is accused of randomly and violently assaulting two individuals without provocation," Brown said Tuesday in a statement. "His alleged actions caused serious physical injury to one of his victims, who still remains hospitalized.”
Local elected officials said Tuesday that while they felt relieved that the suspect was arrested, they were also concerned that it took 16 days to find Springer who was hiding in the neighborhood.
"That this fugitive was given safe harbor by residents within this community for over two weeks is wholly unacceptable," Councilman Ruben Wills, Congressman Gregory Meeks, Senator Leroy Comrie, and Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman said in a joint statement issued Tuesday. They also appealed to local residents to collaborate with authorities.
Springer was convicted in November 2006 of robbery and spent six years behind bars, according to records. He was on parole in March for another conviction of robbery in February, records show.
