Arrest Made After 15-y.o. Girl Punched by Man Twice Her Age

A girl was randomly punched three times in the face by a man twice her age while walking downtown, according to an NYPD spokesperson, who said a suspect was nabbed immediately thanks to a nearby officer who witnessed the assault.

The fifteen-year-old victim was near 14 Rector St. around 4:25 p.m. Oct. 10 when the suspect approached her and attacked her, according to a complaint provided by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. A police officer witnessed the incident and arrested the attacker on the spot. The victim’s face was left swollen and bruised, but she refused medical attention.

30-year-old Gregory Holmes, a Manhattan Valley resident, was arraigned on charges of assault, attempted assault and harassment.

“Fortunately, there was a police officer that happened to be right there who observed it, placed handcuffs on the individual, and we brought him into custody, said Community Affairs Officer Nicolaos Iordanou of the NYPD First Precinct at an Oct. 18 Community Board 1 Quality of Life Committee meeting. A judge released him after “24 hours or so” with a court date of Nov. 29, Iordanou said, though he was not fully certain of the date.

Peter Tse, Community Liaison for the DA’s Office, said that while Holmes was released because “misdemeanor assault cases are not bail eligible,” “he’s still in the system—he is not back out.”

“Judging by his history, it sounds like he’s just a random crazy person,” Iordanou said.

In an earlier version of its article on the case, The Broadsheet erroneously claimed that Iordanou and Tse’s comments were about a different incident that occurred on Rector Place Oct. 16, in which a 42-year-old man was punched in the face by three men who subsequently fled on bikes. No suspects were arrested for that incident and the investigation is ongoing, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

When contacted about The Broadsheet’s original claims of inconsistent narratives between an NYPD spokesperson and Iordanou and Tse’s comments, Doug Cohen, Press Secretary of the DA’s Office, told Straus News that Tse was actually discussing the Oct. 10 assault. Iordanou did not respond to a request for clarification regarding his comments during the community board meeting. Straus News independently verified his comments through a recording of the meeting that was posted online.

The Broadsheet has since updated their story, attributing Iordanou and Tse’s comments to the Oct. 10 assault on a 14-year-old girl on Rector St.