UPPER WEST SIDE — The mother of the teenager charged with robbing a woman pushing a stroller in Central Park told DNAinfo New York she wants her son to be held accountable for his alleged crime.
“If you do something bad, you need to be punished,” Amy Torres, the mother of 19-year-old John Torres, said Thursday.
“There are consequences, even if it hurts me as his mother."
Torres and two accomplices are accused of knocking a woman to the ground inside Central Park near West 90th Street shortly after 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, according to a criminal complaint.
The trio grabbed their victim's purse and fled police, who arrived shortly after the incident, according to the complaint.
Torres was apprehended by police on the roof of a West 83rd Street apartment building and the other teenagers were nabbed in the park, police said.
Until she heard news of the mugging, Torres' mother had been proud of her son, who she said graduated with honors from Life Sciences High School, planned to attend Berkeley College, and worked several jobs in construction and at a Pret-A-Manger.
“This boy's going to college — he don't need nothing,” Torres said, holding back tears. “I'm his mother and I don't even know why he did this."
Torres was stone-faced during his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of robbery and resisting arrest Thursday afternoon.
He was held on a $40,000 bail and scheduled to return to court on Dec. 6.
His accomplice, Pedro Castillo, 19, was also charged with robbery and criminal possession of stolen property.
Torres’ mother also expressed her remorse to the victim and the victim's family.
"I wish I could tell the family I'm sorry," she said. "My son knows better. That's somebody's mother and child."
Torres’ attorney was not immediately available to comment.
