Suspect Out On Probation Arrested For Vicious Sucker-Punch Attack That Broke 71-Year-Old Woman's Jaw
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Police say the man accused of the heinous sucker punch attack on a 71-year-old in Brooklyn is a man who was out on probation.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea announced the arrest of 27-year-old Jaquan Whittle Tuesday evening.
Whittle was reportedly free on probation for another crime at the time of the unprovoked attack. He has now been charged with felony assault against a person over the age of 65.
Joan Baptiste's face is still badly bruised after the heartless attack in Prospect Lefferts Gardens last month.
Surveillance video shows someone viciously punching her in the face and then walking away.
Originally from Grenada, Baptiste has lived in Brooklyn for the last 26 years. She said she was walking home from her job as a daycare worker on Sept. 19 along New York Avenue at around 5:30 p.m. when she was attacked.
All she remembers is hearing someone say "we have to call 911."
Baptiste says she had no clue what happened when she woke up in the hospital with a broken jaw.
"I did not know nothing," the 71-year-old said.
"When I saw the video I was so devastated. I cried because all along we thought she fell," neighbor and friend Carlita Ellis told CBS2.
Police traced back to the spot where Baptiste was left unconscious and that's how they found the surveillance footage.
Without it, they may have never known what happened.
Whittle is the second man out on probation in the last two weeks to end up in the middle of a violent crime in New York City.
Officer Brian Mulkeen was killed Sunday morning while struggling with an armed suspect during a gun arrest in the Bronx.
That suspect, Antonio Williams, was also out on probation for a drug offense when he was caught with a .32-caliber handgun on Sept. 29.
