Suspect Charged In East Village Attack That Killed Man, 68
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A suspect was charged Tuesday in the beating death of a 68-year-old man in the East Village.
Jamie Pugh, 20, was charged with second-degree murder, attempted robbery and assault in the attack last week, police said.
Ruan Wen Hui, 68, was walking on East 6th Street off Avenue D around 9 p.m. Friday when he was attacked, police said.
Stone-faced and in handcuffs, Pugh was escorted out of the 9th Police Precinct station Tuesday night. He was expected to appear for an arraignment Wednesday morning.
The attack, caught on surveillance video, allegedly shows Pugh approaching Hui and speaking briefly to him, before throwing him against a wall. Afterward, the grandfather is repeatedly punched and stomped on.
Hui was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he died of his injuries the next day.
Pugh, who lives in the public housing development a block away from the beating, was taken into custody early Tuesday at 14th Street near First Avenue, sources told CBS 2.
The motive for the attack is believed to be an attempted robbery, sources said.
Hui was a married father of three grown daughters. They said their father, a Chinese immigrant, spoke no English. The retired garment factory worker had just dropped his grandchildren off at home when he was attacked.
As CBS 2's Tracee Carrasco reported, Hui's wife stood over a makeshift memorial of candles and flowers outside an auto repair shop Tuesday and sobbed uncontrollably.
"Nobody expect that my father's life ended like this because he is very nice person," the victim's daughter, Michelle Ruan, told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman. "Everybody knows that."
"We do not understand why he was so angry," Ruan added.
Ruan was struggling Tuesday night to comprehend such a senseless and unprovoked tragedy.
"Nobody can believe that this kind of person lives in this world; in this community," she said.
Crime Stoppers had been offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Sources said they made the arrest after getting a call from a tipster.
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