Metro

Callous assailant busted for knocking out NYC woman, 81, in sucker-punch attack

By
Joe Marino,
Haley Brown and
Amanda Woods
Published Oct. 3, 2024, 7:26 p.m. ET

A callous attacker was busted Thursday for knocking out an 81-year-old woman in a random sucker-punch assault on the Upper West Side last month, cops said.

Hansel Esparragoza, 37 – a Staten Island resident with 21 prior arrests – was charged with felony assault in the Sept. 13 caught-on-video attack on Geula Freeman at West 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, authorities said. 

Esparragoza sported scruffy facial hair and was wearing a light green T-shirt, black sweat pants and rubber slide-on shoes when detectives led the handcuffed suspect out of the front door of the 20th Precinct and into a waiting cop car Thursday. 

Hansel Esparragoza, 37 – a Staten Island resident with 21 prior arrests – was charged with felony assault in the attack of an 81-year-old Upper West Side woman, cops said.
Hansel Esparragoza, 37 – a Staten Island resident with 21 prior arrests – was charged with felony assault in the attack of an 81-year-old Upper West Side woman, cops said. James Keivom
Hansel Esparragoza is led out of the 20th Precinct by members of the New York City Police Department on Thursday, October 3, 2024 in New York, N.Y. An elderly woman was knocked out and concussed when she was randomly attacked by a brute while walking her sonâs dog on the Upper West Side last month.
Esparragoza said nothing when reporters peppered him with questions about the attack. James Keivom

He refused to answer questions about whether, or why, he punched the woman.

Esparragoza was most recently arrested in August for petit larceny, and in July for acting in a manner injurious to a child – both in Staten Island, cops and sources said. 

Footage of the attack on Freeman, obtained by Fox 5, shows the brute at first walking by the victim while she was walking her son’s Goldendoodle. 

Moments later, he turned around and senselessly dealt a blow to the right side of the woman’s face, the video shows.

Victim Geula Freeman was knocked unconsious during the senseless attack.
Victim Geula Freeman was knocked unconsious during the senseless attack. FOX5 New York

The sudden attack knocked Freeman to the ground unconscious, according to cops and the footage.

She suffered facial and head injuries and was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital for treatment, police said.

“I have amnesia, I don’t even remember what had happened,” Freeman previously told The Post of the attack. “Except that I have the face and body [bruises] to feel that.”

“I was told I lost consciousness and that I had a concussion,” she continued.

Freeman said she didn’t think she was targeted by the ruffian, but wants him to get help.

Victim Geula Freeman was knocked unconsious during the senseless attack.
Freeman said she’s now become more vigilant walking around the city. via FOX5 New York

“I don’t take it personally, it was random, nobody really wanted to do it just to me. I don’t take it personally,” Freeman said.

Still, the elderly victim, who has lived on the Upper West Side since 2007 and frequents Lincoln Center, said she has since become more alert as she traverses the Big Apple. 

“It was such a surprise because it was described to me how it happened that I would not have been able to do anything,” she said of the attack.

Hansel Esparragoza, 37, busted in connection to the random punchout of an 81-yo woman Geula Freeman on the UWS
Esparragoza was awaiting arraignment Thursday evening. via FOX5 New York

“But at least I’m now looking to see who’s coming toward me and not to be too close to people, and like in the last two days when I see people a little bit off, I just really make sure I’m a little bit far from them so I’m very vigilant.”

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