63-Year-Old Gets 6 Years For Attacking Teens, Throwing 1 Through Window

DOBBS FERRY, NY — A Westchester man's violent and hate-filled actions will cost him his freedom.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced on Friday that a Dobbs Ferry man was sentenced on Thursday to six years in prison for assaulting two teenagers in September 2022. He also received a one-year sentence in a separate hate crime case for harassing and threatening a 13-year-old boy.

"We are holding this defendant accountable for his vicious attack on two teenagers and his repeated anti-Hispanic hate directed at a young boy," Rocah said. "While the teenagers have been able to recover from their physical injuries, all three victims continue to deal with the trauma inflicted by this defendant."

63-year-old Vincent Pappas pleaded guilty on Sept. 14 of last year, in Westchester County Court, to felony first degree assault and misdemeanor third degree assault. He will also have five years of post-release supervision.

Pappas has remained remanded to Westchester County Jail since his arrest on the day of the 2022 assault.

On Sept. 29, 2022, shortly after 5:30 p.m., Pappas followed two 15-year-olds into a restaurant on Main St. in Dobbs Ferry. As he started yelling at them, Pappas punched one of the 15-year-olds in the face, causing him to fall down, and continued to punch him, at which point, the second victim attempted to physically stop him. Pappas then pushed the second victim through the glass storefront window. Part of the incident was captured on surveillance video.

One victim was transported to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he was treated for a collapsed lung, a cervical spine fracture and multiple lacerations. The other victim went to St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers the next day and was treated for swelling on the head and pain to the face, jaw, chest and thighs.

The Dobbs Ferry Police Department arrested Pappas shortly after the incident.

"While he survived his physical injuries, the mental trauma will stay with him for the rest of his life.... We are grateful for the team who brought this...man to justice and hope that he will never be able to harm anyone ever again," the mother of one of the victims said in a statement made to the court.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Catalina Blanco Buitrago of the Hate Crimes Unit in the Trials and Investigations Division.

Pappas was also sentenced to one year behind bars after pleading guilty on Feb. 1 to the hate crime of misdemeanor second degree aggravated harassment. Between July 5 and Sept. 29, 2022, Pappas repeatedly harassed and threatened a 13-year-old boy, who is of Guatemalan descent, on a Main St. sidewalk in Dobbs Ferry. During this time, the defendant repeatedly said he hated people from Guatemala and would kill the teen if he didn’t leave the country.

Pappas, who was arrested on Jan. 19, 2023, while in custody at the Westchester County Jail on his prior case, was sentenced to 364 days of incarceration, which will merge with the six-year prison sentence he received for his assault conviction.

The case was before Judge McCarty and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheila Horgan of the Trials and Investigations Division, under the supervision of the Hate Crimes Unit.

SEE ALSO: Dobbs Ferry Man Throws Teen Through Store Window: Police