Man punches 4-year-old, kicks cop in afternoon Times Square attack

[The Bobster]

Man punches 4-year-old, kicks cop in afternoon Times Square attack

An unhinged man allegedly slugged a 4-year-old boy in the head in Times Square — then promptly got a beating from two women, with the child’s mom helping restrain him until cops arrived.

nypost.com

Man punches 4-year-old, kicks cop in afternoon Times Square attack​

By
Larry Celona,

Steven Vago and

Jesse O’Neill


February 19, 2022 2:15am
Updated









Man punches 4-year-old child in Times Square attack





An unhinged man with a history of attacking strangers randomly slugged a 4-year-old boy in the head in Times Square — then promptly got lit up like the lights on Broadway by two women, with the child’s mother also stepping in to help restrain him until officers arrived, law enforcement sources and prosecutors said.
Babacar Mbaye, 34, was arrested Thursday after the unprovoked broad-daylight attack at 46th Street and Seventh Avenue at the Crossroads of the World, the NYPD said.
The brute allegedly hit the child at around 3:20 p.m. as the area bustled with pedestrians enjoying an unseasonably warm afternoon.
He was then tackled by the child’s mom and another woman, according to the NYPD, law enforcement and security footage obtained by The Post.
00:00 01:30

The video showed the two heroic women racing in front of the TKTS bleachers to take down the creep. One of them tackled the suspect just inches away from Seventh Avenue traffic while the other swung an object that appeared to be a bottle or rolled-up umbrella at him, according to the footage.

Babacar Mbaye was arrested by NYPD for punching a 4-year-old in an unprovoked attack in Times Square.
The young boy could be seen holding his head with both hands.


One woman who held down the suspect was the child’s mother, sources said, but it was unclear which one.


“Who needs DA Bragg? The mother took care of justice the old fashioned way,” said a Manhattan cop, referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.


When police showed up to arrest Mbaye, he allegedly kicked one of the officers in the leg as they took him into custody, prosecutors said at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court late Friday night.


“I drank a whole bottle of hand sanitizer. I shouldn’t have done this,” the suspect told police while in custody at Bellevue Hospital, according to prosecutors.

The child’s mother and another woman tackled Babacar Mbaye when he hit the child around 2:30 p.m., as the mother would pin the suspect down after.
The child was treated at the scene. He and his mom appear to live in The Bronx.


Mbaye — who was on supervised release in connection with other recent random attacks — was charged with felony assault, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest, according to police and prosecutors.


He has three open misdemeanors for “assaulting strangers” dating back to the summer, including two in the past month, one where he allegedly “pushed a stranger and punched her twice in the shoulder” and the other where he “punched a stranger in the head,” prosecutors said.


Sources said the suspect has a record dating back to 2009, with arrests including for assault, criminal possession of a weapon, DWI and menacing. He has 16 prior misdemeanor convictions, according to prosecutors.

When officers arrived on the scene to arrest Babacar Mbaye, he allegedly kicked a cop when they tried to take him to a police car.
Mbaye did not speak in court during the hearing, where Judge Jay Weiner ordered him held on $30,000 cash bail. Prosecutors from Bragg’s office had asked the judge to set bail at $50,000.


Mbaye’s defense attorney, Thomas Kenniff, said his client was unemployed and lived with mother and two siblings, while claiming there was “never any intent for him to strike the child.”


The lawyer said Mbaye was “under the influence of an intoxicated, debilitating psychiatric episode.”


“He was dancing in the midst of Times Square and inadvertently made contact with the child … which drew the ire of the child’s mother who maybe perhaps reasonably believed that he intended to strike the child,” Kenniff argued. “But I’m confident that was not his intention.”


Mbaye’s next court date is Wednesday.

 

[The Bobster]

Mom of 4-year-old NYC sucker-punch victim turned into ‘mama bear’ to tackle attacker

“I was angry. I sprung into action,” Rafaela Rivera, 42, told The Post on Saturday.

nypost.com

Mom of 4-year-old NYC sucker-punch victim turned into ‘mama bear’ to tackle attacker​

By
Georgett Roberts,

Larry Celona and

Melissa Klein


February 19, 2022 6:06pm
Updated









4-year-old who was punched in Times Square is seen at home with family






The Bronx woman who bravely tackled the creep who randomly punched her 4-year-old son in Times Square said her “mama bear” instincts took over as soon as she heard her boy wailing in pain.
“I was angry. I sprung into action,” Rafaela Rivera, 42, told The Post on Saturday. “The mama bear in me came out. I did what any mama would do. I see my baby crying, it was like why you hit a 4-year-old?”
In a dramatic move captured on surveillance video, Rivera immediately chased the fiend, grabbing him from behind and refusing to let go until police arrived.
Rivera, a bagel factory worker, told The Post how a happy family trip unraveled Thursday as she and her son, Angel, and daughter, Carmen, walked through Times Square.
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The trio had taken an Uber to Manhattan for a photo shoot for Angel, an aspiring model, to avoid any possible violence on the subway.


After the photoshoot, they were enjoying the unseasonably warm afternoon at the Crossroads of the World when Carmen, 17, said she spotted the suspect acting strangely.

“The mama bear in me came out. I did what any mama would do,” Rafaela Rivera told The Post.Tomas E. Gaston Angel Rivera with his big sister Carmen Rivera, 17. Angel, an aspiring model, was with his mom and sister in Times Square for a photo shoot when he was attacked.Tomas E. Gaston
“He was walking close to people moving and swinging his arm. I started watching him to see if he’d do anything,” Carmen said.


Then, she said, the man swung his arm, hitting Angel in the face, causing him to fall backward onto the pavement.


“It sounded like a smack real hard, and I turned around and then my baby is crying,” said Rivera, who was a few inches in front of her kids. “I said, ‘What the heck?’ My daughter said, ‘Mommy he just hit him’.”






4-year-old Angel Rivera speaks about getting punched in NYC



Her daughter pointed to the assailant and Rivera took off.


“I went to grab him, ‘Hey you just hit my son.’ I grabbed him from the back and I gave him like a big bear hug and then I fell to the ground with him. He was moving around,” Rivera said.


“He was trying to get away. I said I’m not going to let go, you are not going to get away, I’m going to let the cops get you for hitting my 4-year-old son,” she recalled.

Rafaela Rivera tackled her son’s alleged attacker and held him down until cops arrived. The Riveras say the city has changed since they moved back from California two years ago. Tomas E. Gaston
When the cops came she was still holding fast to the perp.


“The cops said, ‘Let him go, let him go.’ I said, ‘He hit my son,’ and one said, ‘We got him, let him go.’ So I let him go and they had him on the ground,” she said. “He didn’t say anything. He was mumbling. I think he wasn’t in the right state of mind.”


Police charged Babacar Mbaye, 34, a repeat offender with 51 arrests, in the attack with assault, endangering the welfare of a child and resisting arrest.

Federico Rivera said he was “very angry” about what happened to his son.Tomas E. Gaston
EMTs came to attend to Angel, but he refused to get into an ambulance saying he wanted to stay with his mom and was fine because he was a “tough boy.”


Angel, who was playing in his parents’ living room Saturday, had a few tiny scratch marks near his eye where he was viciously punched.


“He hit me here,” Angel said pointing to his left eye. “It was hard on my head, I saw a whole bunch of colors. I was crying.”


Angel said he was “feeling good right now. I am strong. My eye doesn’t hurt.”

​

Mbaye had three recent prior arrests for assault including a Feb. 3. charge for allegedly punching a woman in the head on the subway. He was released without bail on a desk appearance ticket for that incident, said his lawyer, Thomas Kenniff.


Babacar Mbaye has been arrested more than 50 times.

He was given supervised release for a Jan. 20 charge when he was accused of punching and kicking a woman in the stomach. He was then released without bail after an August arrest for kicking a woman.


Kenniff had contended at Mbaye’s arraignment that the man had been dancing in Times Square “and inadvertently made contact with the child.”


On Saturday, he said that statement was based on a preliminary investigation.


“Clearly this appears to be someone who is not in a sound mental state at the time of the incident,” he said.


Mbaye is being held on $30,000 bail.


Angel’s father, Federico, said he was “very angry” about what happened.


The family had been living in California and moved back to New York two years ago.


“It’s a different New York now – forget it. The crime is out of this world,” he said. “There is no police presence like it used to be. You see the cops in the train station talking to each other or playing with their phones. The cops don’t get involved and the bad guys are taking advantage.”