Police arrested a man who allegedly forced his way into a 70-year-old woman’s apartment, slashed her with glass, and did not stop beating her until police shot him with a stun gun him on Jan. 21, according to officials.
Suspect Luis Hernandez of Queens knocked on the senior’s Ovington Avenue apartment near Fourth Avenue at roughly 9 pm. When the woman opened the door, the suspect rushed in and pinned her down before slicing her throat, arms, and torso with a shard of glass, according to a police spokesman.
The tenant below the elderly woman’s apartment heard her frantic screams for help and called 911. Officers arrived on the scene at 9:10 pm and busted into the woman’s apartment after they heard screams coming from inside. Once inside the apartment, officers discovered the 42-year-old Hernandez on top of the senior, according to a department spokesman.
Police charged the suspect and tried to cuff the man, but he resisted arrest and officers stunned the man with a Taser. Officers discovered the elderly woman on the floor bleeding profusely and applied a special blood-clotting gauze to her cuts, a police spokesman said.
Emergency responders arrived on the scene shortly after and took the victim to Lutheran Medical Center. The woman was initially in critical condition, but after receiving more than 30 stitches throughout her neck and torso, the woman is in stable condition, a department spokesman said.
Hernandez was also removed to Luther Medical Center for treatment and observation before he was arrested and charged with felony assault and burglary. A police investigation is ongoing, officials said.
Hernandez pled not guilty and was remanded during a Jan. 23 arraignment. He may have mental-health issues, and an exam will determine whether he is fit to stand trial ahead of his next court date in February, said Hernandez’s lawyer Rebecca Kavanagh.
