By Gina Martinez
A man who was caught on tape punching an elderly man to death and walking away this summer has been charged, a spokesman for the Queens district attorney said.
Matthew Smith was charged with criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor assault by police Monday after the video showed him punching 64-year-old Briarwood resident Patrick Gorman to death following an altercation that occurred after the stranger brushed up against his wife, police said.
But Smith’s negligent homicide charge was dropped by prosecutors and he is now facing charges for third-degree assault, said Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for DA Richard Brown. If convicted he faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
“Prosecutors are not bound by the offenses the police charge in making an arrest, ” Ryan said. “With the information at hand we felt under present law the charges against Smith are limited to assault in the third-degree. An attack like the one Mr. Smith is charged with, known as one punch homicide, has no proof of villainous intent, which means at most we’re limited to charging assault, which requires only the intent to cause injury, not death.”
Police released surveillance video last week showing Smith, 42, approaching Gorman and striking him in the head with a closed fist, causing him to fall on the ground, police said. Smith fled the location with his wife, Elena Makarova, 39. Authorities familiar with the case said the altercation began when Gorman brushed up against Makarova, who protested and prompted Smith to strike the victim.
The incident occurred on Sunday, June 26, at 1 a.m. when police responded to a call of an unconscious male near the corner of Main Street and Queens Boulevard. When officers arrived, they found Gorman unresponsive, with slight trauma to the head, police said. Gorman was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, then taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Daily News reported Smith bragged about delivering the fatal blow on Facebook.
The medical examiner has not yet ruled on the cause of Gorman’s death.
Smith was arrested Monday. Authorities were looking for Makarova, who has been found, but she had not been charged with a crime, police said.
