Cops: Freed puncher of woman socks girl, 9
Police say Jean Carlos Zarzuela is an equal-opportunity thug, assaulting the very young and the middle aged in the same way in the same place.
Zarzuela, who was released without bail after being charged with punching a 54-year-old woman at Grand Central Terminal earlier this month, slugged a 9-year-old girl there on Saturday, police said Sunday.
Zarzuela, 30, was hauled out of a Manhattan precinct station house in handcuffs Sunday to face a court arraignment on assault charges in the new attack, according to MTA police.
Zarzuela is accused of approaching the girl, a Bronx resident, at around 11:50 a.m. inside the historic building and socking her without warning. The girl was left dizzy and in pain and was taken to NYU Langone-Tisch Hospital, according to sources.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said late Sunday that Zarzuela was awaiting arraignment.
Zarzuela, who initially fled and was arrested later, was already facing charges in the punching of a woman in the head at the terminal April 4, according to court records.
He was arraigned on assault, reckless-endangerment and harassment charges in that case, but released without bail by Manhattan Judge Laurie Peterson, records show.
Peterson made headlines in 2020 when she released an accused looter who allegedly smashed an NYPD cop in the head with a glass bong, The Post reported at the time.
Manhattan prosecutors had asked that suspect Kevin Bullock, 22, be held on $25,000 cash bail or a $75,000 bond in that case, but Peterson instead cut him loose without bail.
In 2016, Peterson also released another suspect, Kari Bazemore, charged with a random attack on a woman in Greenwich Village.
Once free, the career criminal was busted for allegedly slashing two other women.
Bazemore was later deemed unfit for trial and committed to a psychiatric institution.
State court officials did not respond to a request for comment.