A Queens man was charged Saturday in Astoria with two bat attacks in which he fled the victim on a skateboard and committed at least four attacks in two days, including the former, according to police. Two elderly people in Manhattan one day.
The first bat attack victim was recovering Tuesday from swelling and soreness three days after he was hit in the head with a club while visiting Astoria Park.
“I was caught off guard,” said Jamal Bermudez, 46, a Flushing High School physical education teacher. “I didn’t see him coming or have any interaction with him.”
Matthew Lloyd, 36, who allegedly carried out the attack in Astoria on Saturday, first hit Bermudez with an orange aluminum rod, then slid about a mile away and used a The same weapon beat 79-year-old Hristos Massalis.
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Lloyd was arrested shortly after the two attacks and charged with attempted murder, assault and unlawful possession of a weapon, court documents show.
“I didn’t know this was going to happen,” said Bermudez, who had just parked his car and was heading to the park with his girlfriend. “It was a beautiful day and we were walking towards the water, following the path that leads to the water.”
According to police, Lloyd slid behind the couple and hit Bermudez with the bat, knocking him to the ground, leaving him unconscious with cuts to his head and face.
“My girlfriend said she heard the skateboards, but there was a skate park next to where we were walking, so I didn’t think much of it,” Bermudez said. “We heard a clink like an aluminum bat hitting a ball. Then I fell to the ground. I didn’t know it was my head.”
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“When I woke up, all I saw was a group of people hovering above me,” he added. “Shortly after, I felt a severe pain in the head.”
About 10 minutes later, Lloyd targeted Marsalis about a mile off 19th Street, near 20th Avenue, not far from the park. According to a criminal complaint, Lloyd repeatedly punched the elderly victim in the face and head.
The attacker can be seen in the video dropping the bat after hitting Bermudez, but when he spots Marsalis, “he goes back for no reason, picks up the bat, and walks up to hit this Guy, started beating him with this bat several times — for absolutely no reason,” said NYPD Assistant Commissioner Joseph Kenny.
Paramedics took Marsalis to Queens Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition, where he underwent surgery and is recovering despite being permanently blind in his right eye, according to his family.
Marsalis also suffered a skull fracture, an orbital fracture and multiple facial fractures, court documents said.
“The whole family was in shock,” said Massalis’ daughter, Kaliope Massalis, 38. “We can’t believe this really happened.”
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Bermudez said his girlfriend remained calm throughout the ordeal.
“She’s crazy, but she’s an actress. She’s able to hide her anxieties and fears and deal with what needs to be done,” he commented.
The day before the Queens attack, Lloyd assaulted two other senior citizens in midtown Manhattan, Kenny said.
The first victim, a 71-year-old man, was allegedly kicked in the head by Lloyd, who was sitting under the victim, on the northbound N train at 6.05pm on Friday. The attacker then disembarked the train immediately at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street.
Five minutes later, Lloyd punched an 80-year-old man in the back of the head outside 1 Central Park South, an attack Kenny called “unprovoked.”
Both victims were treated and released from hospital. Lloyd has not been charged in Friday’s attack.
This is not the first time he has run afoul of the law.
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He was arrested in November for a 2018 armed robbery targeting Sons of Ink, a Queens tattoo parlor on Union Hall St. near Jamaica Avenue, police said.
Owner Jasmine Barnes said Lloyd worked as an artist at the store until his boss caught him using meth on the job and fired him. A few days later, he broke in through the window and stole the cash, she said.
Lloyd was also convicted of burglary in Queens in 2019 and sentenced to one to three years in prison, public records show.
He was remanded in custody after being arraigned over Saturday’s assault.
