A Glendale man pleaded guilty to multiple assault charges for attacking a 9-year-old girl who was playing on a sidewalk and then biting an NYPD sergeant who tried to apprehend him last May, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Monday.
Feliz Enrique, 31, of 68th Street, was caught on a surveillance camera as he forcefully struck the child with his hand as she stood in front of her mother near the intersection of 67th Place and Central Avenue on May 10, 2025.
According to the charges, between 4:10 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., Enrique approached the girl and engaged her in conversation by asking her name. When she responded, Enrique fired off a roundhouse right that struck the youngster in her face, causing her to fall to the ground. Immediately after the assault, off-duty NYPD Sergeant Sebastion Hajder, who was nearby, and two good Samaritans, attempted to apprehend Enrique. In the ensuing struggle, Enrique bit the cop on his knee, hand and finger. Enrique bit off the top portion of the sergeant’s right index finger.
Police from the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood took Enrique into custody. According to the criminal complaint, during questioning, Enrique told an officer, “This isn’t the first time it’s happened. I beat up her father. I asked where’s {redacted]. I knocked her out. Yeah, I punched her.”
As for biting off Sergeant Hajder’s fingertip, Enrique told the officer, “I know the finger went in my mouth and his finger came out of my mouth.”
EMS transported the girl to the Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition with bruising to her arm and back and bleeding to her lip and arm, loose teeth and substantial pain. Sergeant Hajder, who is assigned to the 79th Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, was transported to an area hospital where he was listed in stable condition. He was treated for bite marks to his hand and leg and abrasions to his arm and leg. Due to Enrique’s actions, doctors were unable to reattach the sergeant’s fingertip.
“This defendant approached a 9-year-old girl, asked her name and then viciously slapped her to the ground in an unprovoked attack,” Katz said. “Brave bystanders — including an off-duty police sergeant — saw the incident and attempted to detain Feliz Enrique. During the tussle, the defendant bit the sergeant in multiple parts of his body and severed a portion of his right index finger.”
Enrique pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Jan. 7, to assault in the first, second and third degrees, attempted assault in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child. Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino indicated that she would sentence Enrique to 17 years in prison on Feb. 2.
“This was a truly senseless act of violence,” Katz said. “And this defendant deserves every day of the sentence he will receive.”
