Man, 82, dies less than a month after 79-year-old neighbor shoved him in NYC

An 82-year-old man died from accidents he suffered lower than a month after an aged neighbor pushed him to the bottom outdoors their Manhattan constructing, police mentioned.

Dean Conover Whetzel was on Hudson St., simply across the nook from his W. tenth St. condominium in Greenwich Village, when 79-year-old Dana Escoffier slammed him into the sidewalk round 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, police mentioned.

Medics took the aged sufferer to hospital in essential situation Bellevue Hospitalthe place he lingered for 25 days earlier than dying Nov. 5, police mentioned.

Escoffier, who pleaded not responsible to assault after his arrest in October, reacted with shock when he was knowledgeable of the sufferer’s dying on Monday.

“He is useless?” Escoffier mentioned. “I do not imagine it. I had no thought. I am simply listening to this now. I do not suppose my lawyer is aware of.”

Escoffier declined to touch upon the assault aside from to say, “He did not die due to me.”

Though Escoffier lived in the identical constructing because the sufferer, he mentioned the 2 had by no means met earlier than the deadly encounter.

That of the town Medical researcher reclassified Whetzel’s case as a murder.

A waiter at a close-by restaurant mentioned he witnessed the assault.

“The man who was pushed fell to the bottom and the opposite man began strolling away,” Ethan Dank, 25, who waits tables at Cowgirl NYC, advised The Information. “Individuals surrounded the person on the bottom and tried to assist.”

“It was very surprising,” Dank mentioned. “He was on the bottom. He was squinting, however he was nonetheless aware.”

A pal of Whetzel mentioned he was strolling his canine, a black terrier named Buddy, who was with him when he died.

“Dean was a beautiful individual. It is terribly unhappy. He was buddies with everybody,” Bifa Secchini mentioned. “Poor Buddy, his canine was with him when it occurred.”

Secchini mentioned Whetzel’s stays can be returned to his dwelling state of Indiana. His canine is being cared for by a pal.