XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: tucker@fox.com   
      
   A 26-year-old Long Island woman has been arrested on manslaughter and   
   assault charges in the death of a beloved 87-year-old singing coach who   
   was shoved from behind on a Manhattan sidewalk in what authorities   
   described as a random "unprovoked and senseless" attack, authorities said   
   Tuesday.   
      
   The arrest of Lauren Pazienza, of Port Jefferson, comes a day after the   
   NYPD declared Barbara Gustern's case a homicide investigation and 12 days   
   after the nighttime attack on a sidewalk near West 28th Street and Eighth   
   Avenue in Chelsea.   
      
   Cops had been looking for Pazienza for nearly two weeks, releasing clear   
   surveillance footage from a subway station late last week as they sought   
   to identify their suspect. The NYPD said she turned herself in Tuesday   
   accompanied by her attorney, Arthur Aidala.   
      
   Gustern was just steps away from her home, around 8:30 p.m. the night of   
   March 10, when cops say a woman believed to be Pazienza attacked her.   
   Prosecutors said Pazienza crossed the street and cursed at her before   
   shoving her to the ground, where Gustern's head struck the sidewalk. The   
   attacker appeared to briskly walk off afterward.   
      
   Gustern was left bleeding profusely, and a witness helped her into the   
   lobby of her building where she recalled what happened, telling police the   
   push was "as hard as she had ever been hit in her life." She later lost   
   consciousness at the hospital.   
      
   She suffered traumatic brain damage from which she would not recover even   
   if she survived, authorities and the woman's grandson said.   
      
   Gustern ended up dying five days after the attack.   
      
   Her grandson, who visited her in the hospital while she was unconscious,   
   said he was pleased with Pazienza's arrest and that it gave "a sense of   
   closure," but stressed that in his mind, the woman is innocent until   
   proven guilty. He also said his grandmother's funeral is Saturday at a   
   church in Chelsea.   
      
   "She was a force of nature. I called her a little star. Tiny ball of   
   energy building community everywhere she went," said grandson AJ Gustern.   
   "To whoever did do this I’m still praying for you and the karmic wave that   
   you’ve taken on is incredible. So God help you."   
      
   Surveillance video from the corner of West 28th Street and Ninth Avenue   
   minutes after the attack showed a woman matching Pazienza's description   
   walking in the same direction a witness told police the attacker went.   
   Additional surveillance footage tracked Pazienza to Penn Station, where   
   police were able to get a clearer image of her, prosecutors said, and two   
   people who know Pazienza identified her as the woman seen there.   
      
   Other security video showed that Pazienza almost a half hour in and around   
   the area after the alleged incident occurred, according to prosecutors.   
   About seven minutes after the attack, she was seen in a physical   
   altercation with a man believed to be her fiancé, prosecutors said, adding   
   that she was later seen watching the ambulance as it arrived at the scene   
   of the attack.   
      
   She and her fiancé were later seen at Penn Station, where both swiped his   
   MetroCard. Detectives were able to track the pair back to their home in   
   Astoria, as video from about an hour and a half after the attack showed   
   Pazienza and her fiancé enter their building. She was wearing the same   
   clothes as the woman seen crossing Ninth Avenue immediately following the   
   attack, prosecutors said.   
      
   In the aftermath the attack, Pazienza deleted all of her social media and   
   entire online presence — including her wedding website, despite being   
   slated to get married in June, according to prosecutors. She allegedly   
   fled to her parents home on Long Island and stopped using her cellphone,   
   which she stashed at an aunt's house so as to avoid being found by police,   
   prosecutors said.   
      
   Police received an anonymous tip on March 19 identifying Pazienza as the   
   suspect in the attack on Gustern. When NYPD detectives went to the   
   parents' home two days later, Pazienza's father answered the door, telling   
   police his daughter was not home and that they were not allowed in,   
   according to prosecutors.   
      
   Shortly after, Pazienza's attorneys contacted police and arranged for her   
   to surrender to police Tuesday morning. Prosecutors called her a flight   
   risk and asked for no bail, but cash bail was set at $500,000 at her   
   arraignment Tuesday afternoon.   
      
   Pazienza did not answer any questions as she was walked from the   
   stationhouse in handcuffs, her face hidden by her hair, and her parents   
   did not comment as they left court. She faces up to 25 years in prison, if   
   convicted, with the next court appearance scheduled for March 25.   
      
   The attorney for Pazienza told reporters the charges are overblown, and   
   they will investigate what happened. He also implied that the evidence was   
   unclear, saying that it could have been an accidental push   
      
   "Whether it was a push, whether it was a shove, whether it was a kick or   
   whether someone tripped — the evidence is not very solid on that at all,"   
   attorney Aidala said, adding that the bail set was too harsh.   
      
   The attorney also said there's no evidence his client watched the victim   
   lie on the street, and that video could show anyone watching.   
      
   Pazienza is said to be a former event planner. A former employer, French   
   high-end furniture and home accessory designer and retailer Roche Bobois,   
   said the woman resigned from her role in December. It said it had no   
   additional comments at this time.   
      
   NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig delivered an impassioned plea last   
   week as he sought the public's help "solving this disgusting, disgraceful   
   offense committed against a vulnerable, elderly female who was doing   
   nothing but walking down the streets of New York City."   
      
   According to The New York Times, Gustern was an acclaimed singing coach   
   who once helped train rock singer Debbie Harry and the cast of the 2019   
   Broadway revival of the musical "Oklahoma!" A neighbor said that Gustern   
   used to perform on Broadway herself, along with her late husband.   
      
   Stephen Shanaghan, who owns Manhattan restaurant and theater Pangea,   
   called Gustern a "sharp, clever seasoned New York person." Shanaghan said   
   that Gustern had recently performed there, and that she had hoped to   
   premiere a new cabaret show there.   
      
   "They sing and they tell stories, it's very heartwarming. And they've done   
   several different shows here," Shanaghan said.   
      
   https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/li-woman-arrested-in-senseless-   
   manhattan-street-shove-death-of-87-year-old-voice-coach-ny-only/3610446/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)