Police arrested Thursday the brute who punched an 81-year-old woman last month as she walked her dog on the Upper West Side, authorities said.
According to police sources, 37-year-old Hansel Esparragoza was cuffed in Staten Island on Oct. 3 after police were called to a convenience store following a commotion. Sources familiar with the incident report Esparragoza was accused of shoplifting and when cops arrived, they realized he was wanted for a shocking September assault and took him into custody.
Esparragoza is accused of a horrific unprovoked attack on a senior on Sept. 13 as she walked her pooch along 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Police reported that Esparragoza approached the octogenarian from behind and took a swinging blow that walloped the 81-year-old so hard she fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
“I have amnesia, I don’t even remember what had happened,” the victim told The New York Post. “Except that I have the face and body [bruises] to feel that.”
She was rushed to Bellevue Hospital suffering bruising and a concussion, law enforcement said.
Esparragoza was escorted out of the 20th Precinct in cuffs by detectives on Thursday afternoon where he refused to answer reporters’ questions regarding why he allegedly committed the unprovoked assault. This isn’t the first time he has been in trouble with the law, however. In March of 2023, Esparragoza was arrested in the St. George Ferry Terminal for harassing an 11-year-old child by allegedly grabbing and kissing her hand. The interaction of the mother confronting Esparragoza went viral on TikTok. He was charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child.
In the Upper West Side sucker punch, Esparragoza was charged with assault in the second degree.
