Former New York Governor David Paterson was attacked by a group of teenagers and two New York City Housing Authority employees earlier this month. Following the incident, he made a public appeal on Sunday on the 770 WABC radio program for New York State to revise its lenient criminal justice system towards teenage offenders, which he believes is weakening public safety.
“We have overcorrected in response to past mistreatment of teenage offenders,” Paterson stated on the “Cats Roundtable” program on 770 WABC radio on the 13th. “Now we have swung to the other extreme, where the criminal justice system seems to be coddling these troublemaking kids.”
The attack on the former governor occurred around 8:30 pm on October 4th while Paterson and his 20-year-old stepson Anthony Chester Sliwa were walking their dog on the Upper East Side sidewalk. Sliwa noticed three young individuals climbing the fire escape ladder outside an apartment building and advised them to call the police. Subsequently, these teenagers assaulted Paterson and his stepson with the assistance of two New York City Housing Authority employees.
The Housing Authority employees, 40-year-old Travor Nurse and 34-year-old Diamond Minter, were arrested for inciting the 12 and 13-year-old minors to attack Paterson and Sliwa. Minter is charged with gang assault while Nurse faces charges of gang assault and assault. The three teenagers aged 12 to 13 voluntarily surrendered to the police and are charged with second-degree assault. The fourth teenager, who was determined by the police to not be involved in the attack, was released without charges.
Video footage of the incident obtained by the New York Post shows six individuals physically assaulting Anthony, who was bleeding on the ground, while Paterson attempted to pull the attackers away. Paterson recounted on the program that he was punched by one teenager, retaliated, then was struck on the head from behind by another person, causing him to fall to the ground with no recollection of what happened afterwards.
Paterson called for strict legal actions to be taken against the two adult individuals because they incited the minors to attack him and his stepson.
Paterson served as New York State Governor from 2008 to 2010, succeeding Eliot Spitzer who resigned amidst scandal.