Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition

Arrest in NYC

Suspect allegedly punched Boca man, who later died.

- By Graham Rayman and John Annese New York Daily News

An assistant basketball coach at Wake Forest University in North Carolina faces assault charges after punching a tourist from Boca Raton and leaving him mortally injured on a Queens street over the weekend, cops said Thursday.

Jamill Jones, 35, surrendere­d to police early Thursday, with a lawyer at his side, just two days doctors took Sandor Szabo off life support.

Szabo was returning to his Long Island City, Queens, hotel after attending his stepsister’s wedding when he banged on the window of a parked SUV on 29th St. near 41st Ave. at 1:15 a.m. on Sunday.

His brother told the Daily News he may have thought the SUV was a cab, and he was trying to get the driver’s attention.

Instead, the driver punched him, sending him flying backward, cops said. His head slammed into the sidewalk, and he never regained consciousn­ess.

Jones faces a misdemeano­r assault charge. It’s unclear if he’ll face more serious charges as the investigat­ion progresses.

Jones joined the coaching staff at Wake Forest in 2017 after working at Central Florida, VCU and Florida Gulf Coast.

Prior to coaching, he spent five years with Team Takeover in Washington D.C., a leading AAU program. He played college ball at Arkansas Tech.

Jones’ Twitter account has been deactivate­d.

“We have just been made aware of this matter and we are gathering informatio­n,” a Wake Forest Athletic spokesman said Thursday night. “We will make a further statement after we learn more about the matter.”

Jones also worked as a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

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