DA blaming slain son: ma
The weeping mom of a man fatally punched in Queens by a college basketball coach says prosecutors are blaming her son for his own death.
“Your son was drunk and rowdy — he deserved it,’’ grieving mother Donna Kent said she was basically told during a meeting with prosecutors over the death of her 35-year-old son, Sandor Szabo, in August.
“They kept saying Sandor was really, really drunk and that he was punching cars and doing really terrible things,” Kent told The Post of the incident, which left her son dead and Wake Forest University assistant coach Jamill Jones facing a third-degree assault charge.
One callous prosecutor even said, “This is New York — any reasonable person would have gotten out of their car and punched’’ Szabo, according to the mom, who lives in North Carolina.
Szabo was in town for his stepsister’s wedding and had just left his brother’s Long Island City hotel at 1 a.m. when he began banging on cars, ap- parently trying to find the Uber he had ordered, authorities and sources have said.
At some point, Szabo banged on the back window of Jones’ white 2019 BMW SUV, shattering it, according to law enforcement and the coach’s lawyer.
That prompted Jones, 35, to get out and sock Szabo once in the face, according to sources.
Szabo fell to the ground and hit his head on the pavement. He lingered in the hospital two days before being removed from life support.
Kent said prosecutors showed her family surveillance footage that indicates Szabo didn’t touch Jones’ car.
“Sandor puts up his hands, like, ‘Hey, chill’ and is backing away’’ as Jones charges at him, the mom says, citing the video.
A Queens DA spokeswoman told The Post on Monday, “We understand the family of Sandor Szabo is hurting and grieving. At no time did anyone from this office state that Mr. Szabo’s death was his fault.”