What you should know
- A father and husband died after spending nearly seven years in a coma after a stranger punched him on a New York City street. His heartbroken family is devastated by the loss and what they see as a lack of justice.
- Domingo Tapia, a father of two, was attacked in 2017 on Fulton Street near Albany Avenue while traveling home from his job at a grocery store and suffered a fractured skull.
- Now, his widow and mother of his children, Esther Díaz and her family only want Gary Anderson, the man convicted of the hit that put Tapia in the hospital, be charged with her murder.
NEW YORK — A father and husband died after spending nearly seven years in a vegetative state after a stranger punched him on a New York City street. Now, his family is devastated by their loss and what they see as a lack of justice.
Domingo Tapia had been hospitalized in a coma since he was hit in the face while riding a bicycle in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in June 2017.
The father of two was attacked on Fulton Street, near Albany Avenue, as he returned home from working at a grocery store.
Tapia suffered a skull fracture and was placed in an induced coma. At that time, he was 38 years old and his two children were 5 and 7 years old. Now, all that remains of him are the memories next to the hospital bed.
“We woke up and our mom told us that our dad didn’t survive,” said Pedro Tapia, now 13, as he described the moment he learned the heartbreaking news. He said he was “sad,” as was his brother Joseph, who is now 11 years old.
The children’s mother, Esther Díaz, said her husband had been suffering a lot and she knows he is in a better place now. She said that Tapia’s absence from her family has been a challenge.
“It’s been a struggle dealing with the kids,” Diaz said.
Diaz has had to work overtime and faced a litany of other struggles since that hit stole Tapia from their lives.
Now, Díaz and his family just want Gary Anderson, the man convicted of the hit that put Tapia in the hospital, to be charged with her murder. Anderson was convicted of misdemeanor assault in the case and sentenced to three years in prison, although a family friend said he was out of jail in six months.
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request to know if they will file new charges against Anderson, given the tragic event.
Under New York law, it is nearly impossible for prosecutors to charge someone who throws a fatal or seriously injuring punch with more serious crimes than the one for which Anderson served time. To date, lawmakers have failed to close the loophole that allows it, which Tapia’s friends and family say is unfair.
Tapia’s family is requesting financial assistance from the Mexican consulate to help pay for his funeral.
2024-03-13 18:27:39
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