Dies 7 yrs. after punch
B’klyn fruit vendor had been in coma since Bed-Stuy attack
A Brooklyn fruit stand manager died after nearly seven years in a coma that resulted from being sucker-punched while riding his bicycle through Bedford-Stuyvesant in 2017, his family said Wednesday.
Father and husband Domingo Tapia had been hospitalized and unresponsive since he was punched in the face while riding from his grocery store job along Fulton Street in June, 2017.
He suffered a fractured skull and was put in a medically-induced coma.
“The kids have still not been able to understand the situation fully,” the victim’s wife Esther Diaz told the Daily News on Wednesday, a day after the man’s death.
“Thanks to him, my kids don’t have someone to support them … to support the family,” the 40-yearold widow said of the attacker.
Tapia’s hospitalization forced Diaz to raise her boys without a father while working overtime to make up for the loss of income, she said.
She added that she wants to see Tapia’s attacker, Gary Anderson, charged with murder.
“We woke up and our mom says that our dad didn’t make it,” Tapia’s 13-year-old son told NBC News through a translator. The boy was just 7 when his father was attacked.
Anderson was convicted of misdemeanor assault in the case and sentenced to three years in prison. Authorities said he was back on the street in six months.
But Tapia’s death could trigger homicide charges against Anderson, officials said.
Police say the medical examiner has to determine a cause of death, a step needed before they can potentially pursue murder charges against Anderson just to be completely sure that he died as a result of his injuries in the 2017 punch.
Cops would then bring the findings to the Brooklyn district attorney, who would decide whether or not to pursue charges.
“We offer our condolences to Mr. Tapia’s loved ones,” said a spokeswoman for Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez. “We are reviewing the matter.”
Police initially believed Tapia was the victim of a hit-and-run driver. But a video viewed later by cops captured the shocking assault as the victim rode his bicycle along the street.
Tapia’s family is applying with the Mexican consulate for financial aid to help pay for his funeral, his wife said.
Diaz said her younger child developed emotional issues after the attack on his dad, which came when he was just 7.
“He was always sleeping. He was always tired. He can’t play like other kids or do anything exciting because it was found that he had a disease called heart murmur,” she said.