Add The New York Post on Google Two brutes surrendered in the Upper West Side beatdown of an elderly man defending a pregnant woman on an MTA bus, but only after kin told them to do the right thing — and a judge then freed them, authorities and sources said Monday.
The pair were charged with felony assault, their first arrest, before being granted supervised release by Judge Jeffrey Gershuny — over prosecutors’ request for $150,000 bail or $300,000 bond, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
It was not immediately clear why the suspects, Jaiden Marrero, 24, and Donzell Mitchell, 19, were released without bail. The charge against them was bail-eligible.
The Bronx men surrendered Thursday – thanks to one of their relatives who spotted them on a “Wanted” flyer and told them to turn themselves in – nearly three weeks after the June 5 beating and stabbing of Robert Hunter, 73, according to authorities and law-enforcement sources. The alleged assaulters were arraigned and freed from court Friday.
Hunter previously told The Post he felt compelled to say something on the evening-rush-hour M104 bus to help the pregnant woman when he spotted one of the assailants “squeezing by” her – “hitting the lady’s stomach.
“So all I said was, ‘You know the lady’s pregnant, show her some respect,’ ” Hunter recalled.
The intervention only made Hunter the target of the pusher and his pal, he said.
The pair pummeled Hunter in the head and body before putting him in a chokehold, making it difficult for him to breathe, according to a criminal complaint.
Then one of the creeps snarled, “Now you’re getting poked,” before they brandished a knife and stabbed him in the left shoulder, according to cops and the court document.
The senior was taken by EMS to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
He downplayed his injuries, saying the attack left him with just three stitches and no black eye.
The senior said he knows that what he did was right, even though he took a beating for it.
“I try to look out ‘cause if that was my daughter… [if] she was pregnant, and someone was pushing her around, and you know, there’s no respect for women on the bus,” he said.
Marrero and Mitchell will reappear in court Aug. 19, the DA’s office said.
