NYC Man With Lengthy Rap Sheet Charged in Unprovoked Flipping of Wagon Carrying Toddler
Tina Moore et al., New York Post, March 12, 2022
An unhinged Queens man with a violent past was finally behind bars Saturday after he attacked a 3-year-old girl sitting in a wagon, leaving her bloodied and bruised.
Christopher Elder, 31, accosted the child’s grandmother as she tossed out trash in Flushing, according to the NYPD.
The terrifying incident unfolded about 6:20 a.m. Friday at 45th Avenue and Robinson Street, when Elder began shouting at the woman, Maria Zamora, 48, who doesn’t speak English.
He then turned his sights on Zamora’s granddaughter Sophia.
Elder allegedly grabbed and shook the wagon Sophia was riding in, holding it with both hands and kicking it into the street, according to a criminal complaint.
The girl hit the ground, suffering a cut to her head, authorities said. {snip}
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It was the second time in four months Elder was accused of going after a child.
On Dec. 11, he allegedly attacked a 36-year-old mom and her 9-year-old daughter in Flushing, punching each of them in the head, according to police sources.
The mom said Saturday that Elder came at them as they walked on Kissena Boulevard, launching a glass bottle, punching her in the face and back and hitting her daughter in the face.
“We just dropped to the floor. I don’t know at what point we fell, I don’t know if I lost consciousness, but we fell and he just continued to hit us. Nobody stopped him,” said the mom who didn’t want to be identified.
Elder was arrested on assault and harassment charges. Bail was not set in the case, the Queens District Attorney’s office said.
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The same day he attacked the mom, he was accused of hitting a 66-year-old man in the face.
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It was not clear if bail was set in those cases, but Elder was out on the street in February. He is accused of hitting a 30-year-old man in the head, with a glass bottle, at a Queens U-Haul location on Feb. 25, cops said.
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In August 2020, a pal came to Elder’s home and asked him to come and look at something on his phone, sources said.
That’s when Elder allegedly came down and stabbed his friend in the back of the neck, sources said.
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In total, Elder had been arrested eight times, police said.
A police source with more than two decades on the job said he has seen plenty of cases like Elder’s.
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Their public defenders get their clients out on supervised release, the source added.
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Queens Criminal Court Judge Stephen Antignani sent Elder to jail without bail Saturday after he was arraigned on charges of assault, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment. {snip}
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