Mother recounts brutal attack on daughter in Queens and heroic neighbor who came to the rescue
NEW YORK -- A mother spoke out Sunday after saving her daughter from an attack right outside of their apartment door in Queens.
The attacker, who was reportedly hiding in the stairwell, surprised the teenager.
Ring camera video shows the moment a man jumps from a stairwell and grabs the terrified teenager, who was returning home from walking the dogs.
"Just the most horrific scream you can think of. It just ... a stump and a scream," Adriana Alvarez said.
Alvarez heard her daughter's screechy screams.
"I run out and I see her being dragged by this man down the fourth floor," Alvarez said.
Her momma bear instincts kicked in.
"From the fourth to the first floor, we were just tumbling, fighting," Alvarez said.
The attack happened on Jan. 23 at around 9 a.m. at their Astoria apartment on 25th Avenue. Her daughter's attacker took off outside. Neighbor Gus Bougas heard Alvarez and the commotion.
"She came running out of the building, started screaming my name," Bougas said.
Bougas grabbed the suspect, who was waiting for the mother and daughter across the street.
"We were touching, pushing each other," Bougas said. "I put my foot in front and threw him on the floor and landed on top of him. Tried to keep him restrained until the cops came."
Police said the suspect, 25-year-old George Vassiliou of Queens, was arrested and charged. Alvarez said her daughter worked with him at a local grocery store until things got weird.
"He started following her and started hiding behind cars," Alvarez said.
The assault left the 18-year-old bruised and Alvarez badly injured.
"I had an orbital eye fracture," Alvarez said. "I still have no feeling. There is a nerve damage. I had a dislocated shoulder, dislocated elbow."
But she's alive and eternally grateful to her neighbor.
"He's definitely my hero," Alvarez said. "God forbid if he wasn't here, he would have ran away again."