{"id":332780,"date":"2026-08-29T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T18:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/332780\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T18:32:10","slug":"nyc-assaults-on-elderly-on-the-rise-over-a-year-surge-over-140-since-2018-nypd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/332780\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC assaults on elderly on the rise over a year, surge over 140% since 2018: NYPD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Assaults on Gotham\u2019s elderly <\/a>are up 14% compared to last year \u2014 and have skyrocketed 143% over the same span in 2018, according to NYPD data obtained by The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There have been 2,112 felony assaults on one of the city\u2019s most vulnerable groups so far this year, compared to 1,853 in the period last year, the data show. There were only 870 assaults on seniors in the same span of 2018.<\/p>\n

Nearly 80% of the 2,112 assaults in 2026 have led to an arrest, and the NYPD said many of them are being committed by repeat offenders.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

An unidentified individual wanted in connection with an assault on a 75-year-old man is shown in a police handout on July 17 at 20 West 115 Street in Harlem. DCPI<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is happening because the same perps keep getting arrested and released through this revolving criminal justice system that seems to prioritize the rights of criminals over law-abiding citizens,\u201d said retired NYPD detective and John Jay adjunct professor Michael Alcazar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mentally ill are left out in the wild and New Yorkers must keep their heads on a swivel and be vigilant in avoiding this population. Seniors end up becoming low-hanging fruit and easy pickings for the criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025, 462 suspects were arrested for three or more felony assaults in a year. That was a 192% increase over the 158 individuals arrested for three or more felony assaults in 2018, according to the NYPD.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reoffending rate for felony assault is up 50% this year,\u201d a police source said, meaning a person commits a felony assault and then another crime within 30 days. \u201cThat\u2019s an astronomical increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former NYPD crime analyst supervisor Christopher Herrmann called the elderly assaults concerning because major crime in the city overall is down 6% so far this year, according to NYPD data.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is a concentration of violence among a particularly vulnerable population,\u201d said Herrmann, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. \u201cThe senior population has grown \u2026 but nowhere near enough to explain a 143% increase in assaults.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City\u2019s population aged 65 and older grew by nearly half a million seniors in the last two decades, an increase of 53%, according to the NYS Comptroller\u2019s Office<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Police were looking for a man who pushed a 74-year-old woman to the ground on July 15 near 64th Street and 7th Avenue in Brooklyn. DCPI<\/p>\n

The NYPD released a surveillance photo of a woman wanted for allegedly pushing a 78-year-old woman to the ground at the 14th Street subway station on July 14.<\/p>\n

About a third of this year\u2019s assaults on the elderly were related to domestic violence, the NYPD said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But many of the crimes were stranger assaults. <\/p>\n

In one case, a loon punched an 81-year-old woman he didn\u2019t know in the face<\/a> after starting a tiff with her on a Jackson Heights, Queens, street around 7:45 a.m. July 16, police said.\u00a0The brute then socked her in the head before fleeing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another brute shoved a 72-year-old man onto the subway tracks<\/a> in Midtown on Aug. 19, breaking the victim\u2019s rib and dislocating his shoulder, officials said.<\/p>\n

Police released this photo of a man wanted for pushing a 67-year-old man to the ground in front of 33-53 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, on Aug. 21, causing the victim to suffer cuts and a fractured wrist. DCPI<\/p>\n

The man was waiting on the F and D train platform at the 47th\u201350th Streets\u2013Rockefeller Center station around 4 a.m. when the attacker creeped up and pushed him silently from behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The gutsy senior climbed back onto the platform on his own. Francisco\u00a0Garcia, 40, was arrested on assault charges and awaiting a hearing in jail on Rikers Island, city records show.<\/p>\n

A maniac shoved an 85-year-old woman to the ground at East 16th Street and Union Square \u2013 leaving her unconscious with a brain bleed \u2014 in an unprovoked attack \u2014 as she stepped off a bus in Manhattan on June 1, authorities said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this rate, elderly assaults in New York City have no ends in cite and it\u2019s going to take more than the NYPD,\u201d Alcazar said. \u201cThe mayor\u2019s other agencies need to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Assaults on Gotham\u2019s elderly are up 14% compared to last year \u2014 and have skyrocketed 143% over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[357,419,303,47929,57,9,56,63,65,64,103,2956,58],"class_list":["post-332780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-assaults","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-john-jay-college","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nypd","tag-senior-citizens","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}