Paterson teen shown in viral video sucker punching elderly man surrenders to police | Paterson Times Paterson Times

Paterson teen shown in viral video sucker punching elderly man surrenders to police

By Jonathan Greene
Published: February 9, 2016

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A city teen who sucker punched an elderly man waiting to cross the street in early December turned himself in to police on Tuesday afternoon.

Kristian Gonzalez, 18-year-old, surrendered to police accompanied by his attorney Harley Breite at noon at the Paterson Police Department headquarters.

Gonzalez and a 16-year-old have been charged with aggravated assault and endangering a victim.

Breite suggested Gonzalez’s schizophrenia may have played a role in the attack. “He’s long been diagnosed and medicated for schizophrenia as well as obsessive defiant disorder as well as ADHD,” Breite told a crowd of news reporters.

Gonzalez who was 17-year-old at the time attacked the victim as he tried to cross Rosa Parks Boulevard from Van Houten Street on December 7, 2015.

Breite said his client was provoked. “You hear in the video somebody provoking him,” Breite said.

The 16-year-old recorded the video while encouraging Gonzalez to knock out the unsuspecting old man. A voice that of the 16-year-old is heard in the video telling Gonzalez to “knock him out” just before the elderly man is struck and falls to the ground.

Police said the 16-year-old surrendered to police Saturday afternoon.

Breite denied Gonzalez was involved in a game to knock out the victim. The video of the incident surfaced on social media last week and attract thousands of views.

Some on social media even identified Gonzalez, a Great Falls Academy student, as the assailant in the video before the police investigation.


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