Immig dies trying to break up Bronx fight
Mauricio Rincon paid with his life for trying to keep the peace.
The South Bronx resident was still kneeling by his bedside in prayer when his sister discovered his lifeless body, hours after he was knocked to the ground while trying to break up a street fight, according to cops and his sister.
“I couldn’t believe he was in the same position,” said the sister, who tried in vain to wake the 42-year-old dead man. “I felt something was really wrong. I couldn’t believe he was dead … Because of the good act to separate them from fighting, this happened.”
Rincon was left bloody, bruised and unconscious on June 9 after the blow to his face sent him reeling backward onto the sidewalk outside his Wales Ave. apartment building near E. 152nd St., sources said.
Surveillance video captured the fatal punch from 33-year-old Johnnie Pabon, with an unresponsive Rincon lying on the ground for a full minute after cracking his head on the concrete, according to a criminal complaint.
In addition to the head injury, Rincon suffered a deep gash to his face as the fighters fled the scene, the sources said. The sister, along with some neighbors, said they believed the initial dispute involved feuding local street gangs.
While his sister said she asked paramedics to bring Rincon to the hospital, FDNY officials said he was treated at the scene before he declined to go for additional treatment.
The sister said she accompanied her brother back up to their apartment around 9:30 p.m., with Rincon changing out of his bloody clothes before heading into his bedroom.
Once inside, he knelt down to pray the “Our Father” and
“Hail Mary,” asking his sister to stay quiet when she asked what he was doing. The sibling was surprised by the sight, as her brother was not typically a praying man.
“Sister, don’t worry,” she recalled him saying. “I’m fine. Stay calm. I want you to be fine.”
Around noon the next day, the sister tried to rouse him to go to the police — before realizing he was dead.
Rincon was a Mexican immigrant who supported their parents back home, and served as the guiding light for their family in both countries. In recent weeks, he often spent hours waiting in line to get food from the local church, as coronavirus left him without a job.
“He was not only financial support, but emotional and spiritual,” his sister said, sitting by an altar she built for her brother. Candles and flowers surrounded a white cross on the floor.
“Without him, my situation is harder. I want his life to have meaning,” she said.
Pabon, of the Bronx, was arrested Monday on charges of murder, assault and manslaughter based in part on the surveillance video, cops said.
The Bronx District Attorney’s office ultimately arraigned Pabon on the lesser charges of assault and harassment, and the suspected killer was released a day later without bail.
The city Medical Examiner believes Rincon died from the head injury sustained while breaking up the fight. The family was raising funds to send Rincon’s body back to their parents in Mexico.
The door to his bedroom remained open Friday — and would remain open until justice was served and Rincon was laid to rest, the sister said.
“It’s not right,” she said. “We come to this country, work hard, and we can’t enjoy the success we built … I have moments where the pain is too much for me. When he’s back with our parents, I’ll have time to think about the moment.”