79-yr.-old sucker-punched in B’klyn by stranger on moped
A legally blind 79-year-old man with a cane was walloped in Brooklyn by a stranger on a moped in an alarming and unprovoked attack caught on video, police said Saturday.
Ralph Belgrove was chatting with a friend on Fourth Ave. near Carroll St. in Park Slope about 12 p.m. on Friday when suspect Disheem Riley rolled down the bike lane on a moped, surveillance video recovered by police shows.
Riley, 29, parked the moped and quietly walked over to Belgrove, looking around as he approached the unsuspecting senior citizen, police said.
Belgrove didn’t notice the stranger until Riley reeled back and sucker-punched him in the face hard enough to knock him to the sidewalk, the video shows.
“Next thing I know, I’m on the ground,” Belgrove said.
No words were exchanged — “nothing at all,” Belgrove told the Daily News. “Just, whack!”
Belgrove’s friend walked toward Riley — but before he could confront him, he made a U-turn on his bike and zipped away.
The victim suffered a minor injury and was treated at the scene, according to police.
“My elbow took most of the blow. I took a couple of Tylenols and went to bed,” Belgrove recounted.
Belgrove said he’d never seen his attacker before and had no interaction with him before the attack.
“I’m legally blind. I can’t afford to have any enemies,” Belgrove said. “I don’t have an enemy.
“Everyone on that block knows me. It’s not a question of, ‘I did somebody wrong.’ ”
Belgrove was born without eyesight after his mother suffered from rubella while she was pregnant.
A series of surgeries granted him partial vision, and he became skilled with his hands.
The Trinidadian immigrant worked for a caning company in Queens before he retired.
A woman who tends bar at a neighboring pub said she and her colleagues were stunned by the assault.
“It was totally intentional and really quick,” said Maya Gonzalez, 28.
“I can’t imagine there would be any reason to assault him.”
“He’s a really nice guy,” Gonzalez said of Belgrove.
“He’s a friend of the whole block.” Police arrested Riley on Saturday and hit him with assault and menacing charges.
Belgrove hopes the arrest will thwart his attacker from hurting someone else.
“I hope they put this guy away someplace,” Belgrove said.
“I mean, he would do that to me, he might do that to someone else. It’s a good thing I have a little strength in me still.”
Riley’s arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court was pending Saturday evening.