Disturbing pattern behind 143% surge in NYC elderly assaults as felony attacks top 2,100

“THEY ARE EASY TARGETS”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, POLICE SAY ASSAULTS ON NEW YORK CITY SENIORS HAVE SKYROCKETED BY 143 PERCENT SINCE 2018… AND SUSPECTS LIKE FRANCISCO GARCIA ARE NOW JAILED ON RIKERS ISLAND AS VIOLENCE AGAINST THE ELDERLY CLIMBS.

Felony assaults against older New Yorkers have climbed 14 percent compared to the same period last year, according to NYPD data obtained by The Post.

The reported attacks have escalated 143 percent when compared to the same timeframe in 2018.

Citywide records show 2,112 felony assaults committed against seniors so far this year.

That compares to 1,853 felony assaults against older victims during the identical span last year.

During the same period in 2018, police recorded 870 assaults on seniors.

Nearly 80 percent of the 2,112 assaults recorded in 2026 have resulted in an arrest.

The NYPD reported that many of these violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders.

“This is happening because the same perps keep getting arrested and released through this revolving criminal justice system that seems to prioritize the rights of criminals over law-abiding citizens,” said retired NYPD detective and John Jay adjunct professor Michael Alcazar.

“The mentally ill are left out in the wild and New Yorkers must keep their heads on a swivel and be vigilant in avoiding this population,” Alcazar said.

“Seniors end up becoming low-hanging fruit and easy pickings for the criminals,” he said.

In 2025, police arrested 462 suspects for three or more felony assaults within a single calendar year.

That represents a 192 percent increase compared to the 158 individuals arrested for three or more felony assaults in 2018, according to police data.

“The reoffending rate for felony assault is up 50% this year,” a police source said, meaning a person commits a felony assault and then another crime within 30 days.

“That’s an astronomical increase,” the source said.

The surge comes while overall major crime in the city has dropped 6 percent so far this year, according to NYPD figures.

Former NYPD crime analyst supervisor Christopher Herrmann described the concentration of attacks on older victims as deeply concerning.

“What we’re seeing is a concentration of violence among a particularly vulnerable population,” said Herrmann, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“The senior population has grown … but nowhere near enough to explain a 143% increase in assaults,” Herrmann said.

New York City’s population of residents aged 65 and older increased by nearly 500,000 people over the past two decades.

That demographic shift represents a 53 percent increase, according to data from the NYS Comptroller’s Office.

Domestic violence accounted for approximately one-third of the felony assaults committed against the elderly this year, police said.

But many of the reported incidents involved unprovoked confrontations with strangers across the city.

On June 1, an attacker shoved an 85-year-old woman to the ground as she stepped off a bus at East 16th Street and Union Square in Manhattan.

The victim was left unconscious with a brain bleed following the unprovoked assault, authorities said.

On July 14, an assailant allegedly pushed a 78-year-old woman to the ground inside the 14th Street subway station.

Police released a surveillance image of the wanted female suspect.

On July 15, an unidentified man shoved a 74-year-old woman to the pavement near 64th Street and 7th Avenue in Brooklyn.

Police launched a search for the suspect.

On July 16, around 7:45 a.m., an attacker initiated a dispute with an 81-year-old woman he did not know on a street in Jackson Heights, Queens.

The man punched the victim directly in the face, police said.

Then the attacker struck her in the head before fleeing the scene.

On July 17, an unidentified individual engaged in a verbal dispute with a 75-year-old man at 20 West 115 Street in Harlem.

The suspect allegedly struck the victim multiple times in the face before running away on foot.

On August 19, an assailant pushed a 72-year-old man onto the subway tracks in Midtown around 4 a.m.

The victim was standing on the F and D train platform at the 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station when the attacker approached silently from behind.

The shove fractured the victim’s rib and dislocated his shoulder, officials said.

Yet the injured senior managed to climb back onto the platform on his own.

Police arrested 40-year-old Francisco Garcia on assault charges in connection with the transit attack.

Garcia was booked into custody and is awaiting a hearing in jail on Rikers Island, city records show.

On August 21, an attacker shoved a 67-year-old man to the ground outside 33-53 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens.

The victim sustained a fractured wrist along with cuts to his head, elbows, and knees.

Police released an image of the wanted suspect.

And investigators continue to seek the unidentified suspects in the outstanding street attacks.

“At this rate, elderly assaults in New York City have no ends in cite and it’s going to take more than the NYPD,” Alcazar said.

“The mayor’s other agencies need to step up,” he said.

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.