QUEENS — The man accused of fatally punching a 64-year-old man for bumping his wife on a bus laughingly bragged about it on Facebook only hours after the incident.
Mathew Smith, 42, punched Patrick Gorman, 64, on the corner of Main Street and Queens Boulevard in Briarwood on June 26, authorities said.
“I had to put my hands on somebody last night smdh,” Smith posted the same day on his Facebook page, which appeared to have been deleted Friday afternoon.
Prior to the incident, the couple was on the bus with Gorman when he bumped into Smith's wife, Elena Makarova, 39, police said.
“I hate when dudes think its OK to disrespect females in any kinda way especially when its not called for,” Smith added in the same post.
Detectives are looking for the couple after a parent at the elementary school their daughter goes to recognized them on surveillance footage the NYPD released of the deadly punch earlier this week, police said.
Credit: Facebook
The footage shows the couple calmly walking away as the victim, who lived in an apartment building on the corner where the incident took place, struggles to get up.
Gorman, who suffered head trauma, was rushed to Jamaica Hospital and died hours later, according to the NYPD.
Police released the footage when the city Medical Examiner's office deemed Gorman's death a homicide on Oct. 29, after concluding that the victim suffered a stroke following the punch, with a contributing heart condition.
Credit: NYPD
Smith, who said on his Facebook page that he works at Mt. Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, also wrote that he would not hesitate to do it again.
“I don't feel bad for protecting mine at all, I'd do it again. I feel bad for how he got folded up. Hahaha it was ugly lol," he posted.
One of his Facebook friends joked that she was surprised “Elena didn’t shake him up a bit.”
“She set him up tho and he ain't even know it!!" Smith responded.“I had to bring him back down off of that cloud he was sittin' on,” Smith also wrote on his Facebook page. “I garrantee [sic] you before he opens his mouth next time he'll think about it."
Credit: NYPD; Leo Kearns Funeral Homes (inset)
On Oct. 31, Smith posted an enigmatic message on his page: “I'm so glad there's so many people with my name on this s--t. Do not look for me at all. Lol”
The Facebook posts were first reported by the Daily News.
On her Facebook page, Makarova, who said she works as a substance abuse counselor, painted a very different picture of Smith. Only a week before the incident, she praised him as a husband and father.
"I always see you trying harder, listening more as the days, months and years go by, being more attentive, sensitive, loving, caring, forgiving and most of all a role model for our daughter!!" she wrote on June 19, wishing Smith a happy Father's Day.
"It's funny how things are, they say financial problems ruin a lot of relationships, or at least put a strain on it, we got closer, we laugh more, we talk more, I'm proud to call you the father of my child!"
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
