A 20-year-old Dorchester man was held on $1,500 bail today on charges he struck a disabled man with his own cane last weekend at the Andrew Square MBTA station.
Miguel Velasquez-Mendoza pleaded not guilty in South Boston District Court to charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a victim who is 60 or older or disabled, and unarmed robbery.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Burke said Velasquez-Mendoza struck Chris Johnson, 44, who has cerebral palsy, with his own cane Saturday night at the Andrew MBTA station. Johnson was not seriously injured.
“It’s an extremely unprovoked and cowardly attack on a person who didn’t have the capacity to defend himself,” Burke said.
Johnson was on the phone and saw Velasquez-Mendoza allegedly smoking marijuana, according to an MBTA police report. Velasquez-Mendoza tried to sit next to Johnson, who told him not to sit on the bench because “it appeared dead birds were on it,” the report said. Velasquez-Mendoza then took the Johnson’s cane and hit him with it, Johnson told police, according to the report.
Judge Tracy-Lee Lyons said if Velasquez-Mendoza posts bail, he would have to stay away from the victim, stay out of South Boston unless he’s attending court, and submit to random drug and alcohol tests.
T police arrested Velasquez-Mendoza yesterday at his job in Watertown, according to the report, after receiving a tip from a co-worker who noticed Velasquez-Mendoza was wearing the same clothes as the suspect caught on video surveillance. MBTA police had distributed still photos from the video.
Alim Adatia, Velasquez-Mendoza’s lawyer, said his client lived at a shelter in Dorchester and had moved to the United States 3 1/2 years ago from his native Guatemala.
“He may have been abused within a family setting when he was in Guatemala,” Adatia said.
Velasquez-Mendoza told police he initially didn’t remember the incident “due to intoxication,” but later admitted to hitting Johnson with the cane, the report said.
“Velasquez-Mendoza related this incident to childhood memories and abuse he endured by his father,” the report said.
