91-year-old cancer patient viciously knocked to ground by would-be robber pleads he would’ve ‘kicked his ass’ if he was younger
A 91-year-old New York man who was viciously shoved to the ground by a stranger who tried to snatch his wallet warned his attacker that he would’ve “kicked his ass” if he was a few decades younger.
The brute pounced on Hyman Silverglad as he was walking on East 86th Street near First Avenue at about 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 1, knocking him to the ground and unloading punches as he tried to grab Silverglad’s wallet, police said.
But the assailant ran off empty-handed when the nonagenarian began to shout.
“I cough and I’m almost dead,” he told The Post in an interview at his hospital bed on Wednesday. “I tell you if I was young I would run after this mother-freaker and beat the shoot out of him and kick his ass and he’ll forget being a criminal.
“Some people use lead pipes, I don’t go so far,” he added.
Silverglad — who tells The Post he is battling cancer and kidney failure — has been in the hospital with serious injuries ever since the attack.
He suffered six bone fractures and another fracture at the bottom of his spine, leaving him in pain and unable to walk, he said. He’s not sure if he will need surgery but will have to go to rehab.
Silverglad said he was returning from the store with some groceries when his attacker jumped him.
He was on the ground yelling for help because he couldn’t get up — but nobody stopped, he said.
“You think I was hit by a mortar shell on a battlefield. It was so agonizing. No one stopped. No one even looked at me,” he said. “They just walked … because New York City is racing to a non-civilized area.”
As he tried to crawl back to his apartment building, three women walking towards the same entrance — whom he called “ God‘s angels without wings” — helped carry Silverglad to his bed. The mugging has left him ready to leave the Big Apple for good.
“New York City has morphed into a jungle. Since my assault, I’m thinking of moving from New York City to a safe place,” he said, naming Texas or Israel as safer destinations.
“No person over 65 is safe in this city. Those under 65 have some safety in their health and the ability to run,” he added.
Images released by the NYPD late Tuesday show the male suspect with a goatee, wearing a black winter coat, gray hat and carrying a black backpack.
He was still on the loose Wednesday.
Anyone with information on the violent crime is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
