2 Teens Charged With Gang Assault In Attack On 79-Year-Old Outside Queens Library
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two teenagers have been arrested in connection to a brutal assault on a 79-year-old man in Queens.
Police said Tuesday that 18-year-old Nyziere Lodge, of Queens, and an unidentified 15-year-old boy are facing charges in connection to the Oct. 10 incident.
Lodge and the 15-year-old are accused of chasing down 79-year-old Joseph Bonaventure outside the library on Linden Boulevard in Cambria Heights.
Video shows Bonaventure backing away before one of the suspects shoves him, knocking him to the ground. The other suspect then repeatedly punches him.
Bonaventure suffered a broken femur and broken ribs. He is still in the hospital and going to physical therapy, and he told CBS2 it could be at least two months before he is fully recovered.
Lodge and the 15-year-old have both been charged with gang assault.
Bonaventure said he believed the attack was a gang initiation because they didn't steal anything.
"My car keys fell down, my cell phone, my wallet, they don't take anything," Bonaventure said.
Lodge is also being charged with disorderly conduct.