Police said Christian Torres allegedly attacked 91-year-old Hyman Silverglad (inset) in a vicious mugging on the Upper East Side earlier this month.
Photo by Dean Moses/Inset via NYPD
The man convicted of brutally beating a 91-year-old in an Upper East Side mugging apologized in court on Wednesday, yet the Manhattan District Attorney said he can show his sorrow by spending 15 years behind bars.
Christian Torres of Harlem sat before Judge Robert Mandelbaum on the afternoon of July 16 and lamented his actions, which have left Hyman Silverglad homebound.
“I made a mistake and I am paying for it,” Torres said.
Judge Mandelbaum did not appear sympathetic and sentenced Torres to 15 years in state prison.
“This was a particularly brutal crime in terms of harm that was suffered by Mr. Silverglad,” Judge Mandelbaum said. “His life was as close to destroyed as possible for life to be without it literally being lost.”
Torres was found guilty of attacking Silverglad as he walked home with groceries along 86 Street and 2nd Avenue on the night of Feb. 1, 2024. The assailant grabbed Silverglad’s wallet and shoved him to the ground before punching him. The fall left him with six fractured ribs.
Unable to stand and still suffering unimaginable distress, Silverglad crawled back to his home on his knees, where he finally was able to receive assistance from three women who helped him to his apartment and dialed 911.
“I tell you it was so painful words cannot describe,” Silverglad told amNewYork soon after the attack. “I’m very old and very sick, very bent over, gray-haired —A 10-year-old could beat me up.”
At the time then NYPD chief of Patrol John Chell visited the senior in hospital and told amNewYork he took the attack personally.
“For a 91-year-old person, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how he felt inside when he got attacked like that,” Chell said.
At the time of the attack, Torres had some 60 prior arrests. Transit District 4 cops arrested him on Feb. 11, 2024, after recognizing him from a wanted flyer. Prosecutors say Silverglad still suffers pain well over a year later.
While Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he appreciated Torres’ apology, he also believes it is important he is held accountable with a lengthy prison sentence.
“Statements of contrition are helpful, they are a part of accountability. They do not undo the trauma and the harm that was inflicted and the accountability of 15 years, 15 years in state prison is essential here, which is why we sought it and are grateful that the judge granted.”
Bragg went on to condemn the attack and charge that the kind of savage violence suffered by Silverglad will not be tolerated.
“I want to be absolutely clear, our older New Yorkers shouldn’t always be in fear all the time, including when they’re going about their daily lives. We will not tolerate these types of vicious attacks,” Bragg railed.
→ Continue reading at amNY
