Spewing saliva to weeping tears
A spitting subway bully busted for slapping his 2-year-old son and pulling a knife on a fellow straphanger proved less of a tough guy in court.
Defendant Edgar Rodriguez began weeping Wednesday when a judge issued an order of protection barring all contact with his boy Adrian over the ugly June 24 incident on an E train at the W. 4th St. subway station.
“It’s a very sad situation, your honor,” defense attorney George Vomvolakis said at a hearing where his 23-year-old client was held on $2,000 cash bail.
“The most important thing to him is his child. My client is currently the sole caregiver for that child …The mother was and still is a stripper.”
The teary Rodriguez curled his hand into a tight fist behind his back when Judge Herbert Moses removed little Adrian from his custody pending a Family Court review. The defendant stood with his head hung low throughout the Manhattan Criminal Court hearing.
Rodriguez suffered a massive meltdown captured on video as he rode the train last month. A passenger in the same subway car got into a dispute with Rodriguez after the deranged dad slapped the toddler on his arm, igniting a torrent of obscenities in a threatening rant.
"Your daddy will get killed on this train,” Rodriguez told the man’s 5-year-old daughter as he waved a folding knife toward her dad. The victim’s wife shot the video of the incident, and police released the footage last weekend.
Assistant District Attorney Colleen Walsh, who asked for $10,000 bail, described the altercation that ensued once Rodriguez was challenged about striking the little boy. Before leaving the car, the defendant sent an angry spray of spittle toward the man.
“On video, the defendant is seen violently spitting at the passenger… a stranger who was merely trying to protect a child who couldn’t protect himself,” said Walsh.
Vomvolakis downplayed the allegations against his client, who was charged with child endangerment, menacing and weapons possession.
“What has preceded the video is my client striking his child…striking his hand,” the attorney said. “Where I’m from, that’s OK. There’s nothing illegal about that, striking your child’s hand.”
But the video captured a riled-up Rodriguez spewing angry, profanityladen rants toward the 45-year-old man during his tirade.
“Ain’t nobody telling s--- to me!” he screamed when the other man intervened. “It’s my kid, n----r! Worry about your own kid, n----r!”