What you should know
- A father and husband who spent nearly seven years in a coma after he was punched by a stranger on a New York City street has died, and his heartbroken family is devastated by the perceived lack of justice as well as his loss.
- Domingo Tapia had been hospitalized in a coma since he was hit in the face while riding a bicycle in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in June 2017. The father of two was attacked on Fulton Street, near Albany Avenue, while traveling to home from his job at a grocery store and suffered a fractured skull.
- Now, his widow and mother of his children, Esther Díaz and her family only want Gary Anderson, the man convicted of the hit that put Tapia in the hospital, be charged with her murder.
NEW YORK — A father and husband who spent nearly seven years in a coma after he was beaten by a stranger on a New York City street has died, and his heartbroken family is devastated by the perceived lack of justice as well as his loss.
Domingo Tapia had been hospitalized in a coma since he was hit in the face while riding a bicycle in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in June 2017. The father of two was attacked on Fulton Street, near Albany Avenue, while traveling to home from his job at a grocery store and suffered a fractured skull.
Tapia was placed in an induced coma. At that time he was 38 years old. His two children were 5 and 7 years old. Now, the only thing left of him are the memories next to his father’s hospital bed.
“We woke up and our mom told us that our dad didn’t survive,” said Pedro Tapia, now 13, as he described learning the heartbreaking news. He said he was “sad,” as was his brother Joseph, who is now 11 years old.
The children’s mother, Esther Díaz, said through a translator that her husband had been suffering a lot and she knows he is in a better place. She said Tapia’s absence from her family has been a challenge.
“It’s been a struggle dealing with the kids,” Diaz said through a translator.
Diaz has had to work overtime and faced a litany of other struggles since that hit stole Tapia from their lives.
Now, Díaz and his family just want Gary Anderson, the man convicted of the hit that put Tapia in the hospital, to be charged with her murder. A translator said Anderson was convicted of misdemeanor assault in the case and sentenced to three years, although a family friend says he was out of jail in six months.
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request about whether it would file enhanced charges against Anderson, given the tragic event.
Under New York law, it is nearly impossible for prosecutors to charge someone who throws a fatal or seriously injuring punch with more serious crimes than the one for which Anderson served time. To date, lawmakers have failed to close the loophole that allows it, which Tapia’s friends and family say is unfair.
Tapia’s family is requesting financial assistance from the Mexican consulate to help pay for his funeral.
2024-03-13 16:01:02
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