HOMELESS CRAZIES WHO SHOULD BE LOCKED UP IN A MENTAL INSTITUTION ARE ON THE LOOSE THROUGHOUT NYC

Woman knocked down by Times Square mugger dies surrounded by family, friends 

 

By Georgett Roberts, Joe Marino and Melissa Klein

 

Nre York Post

October 9, 2021

 

 

                Maria Ambrocio has died, after clinging to life for a day and a half

 

The New Jersey cancer nurse who was knocked down by a deranged homeless mugger in Times Square died Saturday evening after clinging to life for a day and a half.

“They just pulled the plug on her. she’s gone,” Maria Ambrocio’s brother Carlito texted The Post at 8:28 p.m.

Ambrocio, 58, was walking through Times Square around 1:30 p.m. Friday with friends after accompanying a pal to the Philippines Consulate in Midtown and having lunch before heading home, friends and family said.

 

                              

                             Deranged Jermaine Foster is homeless

 

It was the same time that cops say Jermaine Foster allegedly went on a crime spree, grabbing a cell phone out of a 29-year-old woman’s hands at West 41st Street and Broadway and then slamming into Ambrocio as he fled. She was rushed to Bellevue with head trauma.

Emilia Cruz, 70, a nurse who worked at Bayonne Medical Center with Ambrocio, said she was walking alongside her as Foster knocked her down.

“There were lots of people and we were trying to maneuver,” Cruz told The Post, adding she saw the suspect being chased.

“I heard a big thump like something hit the concrete and, you know, it was loud so I said ‘Wow, oh My God.  What’s that?’ and I looked down and I saw her blouse, I didn’t see the face and I said, ‘Oh my God, Ning,’ I call her Ning,” Cruz said.

“I said ‘Ning, what happened? Wake up,’ and she was out. She was already unconscious. She is not answering me. I keep picking her up. She was frothing from her mouth. And I said, ‘Call 911.’”

Ambrocio’s cousin said she hadn’t seen Ambrocio for nearly two years because of the pandemic and the family was hoping for a happy reunion for the upcoming holidays.

“This is the first time we are seeing her since COVID and this is how we see her? It’s overwhelmingly sad,” she said.

Ambricio’s husband was at her side as family members and friends came to Bellevue.

“Her friend told me to hurry up because her blood pressure is dropping and she is brain dead. She doesn’t have much time, so I have to hurry,” Ambrocio’s younger brother Carlito Spa Maria said Saturday as he arrived at the hospital.

The native of the Philippines, who lives in Bayonne, was an oncology nurse who previously worked at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan.

A photo on Ambrocio’s Facebook page posted at the start of the pandemic shows her in full protective gear with the caption “I Cannot Stay at Home, I’m a Nurse.”

Her cousin said it was difficult to comprehend what happened.

“Crime has been rampant in the city. If they are mentally ill, why are they on the streets? They should be taken care of,” she said.

Foster, 26, who is homeless, was charged early Saturday morning with robbery and assault in connection with the incidents, police said.

His alleged reign of terror actually began 90 minutes earlier when Foster allegedly barged into a woman’s apartment on Sixth Avenue and 38th Street, police said Saturday.

The victim, who did not want to be identified, told The Post that she heard someone ringing the buzzers to get into the building. Thinking it was a food deliveryman, she let the man in and opened her door a crack to see who he was looking for.

“He busted my door open. He rushed into the apartment,” she said. “He basically was demanding money, like ‘Where’s the money? Where’s the money?’ “

She started screaming and told neighbors to call 911. The woman, who said she was petrified, also called 911.

Foster began breaking things in the apartment and then bizarrely sat on her couch without saying a word.

The victim said she grabbed the crazed intruder’s phone as evidence, but that only riled him up.

“He started screaming ‘I’m an African prince! I’m an African prince!’ ” she said.

 

Maria Ambrocio was accompanying a friend to the Philippines Consulate when she was attacked

 

The brave victim, who is in her 30s, said she tried to keep Foster in her studio apartment until the cops arrived, but he ran off with about $15.

“Honestly speaking, I knew he was on something so I didn’t want to do too much to trigger him,” she said. “I didn’t know what he had on him, if he had a weapon.”

The woman called Ambrocio’s fate “heartbreaking.”

 

Irineo Ambrocio and Emilia Cruz speak to the media about Maria Ambrocio outside of Bellevue Hospital on October 9, 2021

 

“I tried to hold him as long as I could for the cops,” she said, saying the encounter went on for 20 to 25 minutes. “This area, it’s a crisis in Midtown right now with the homeless and the drugs. It’s not being addressed.”

Foster was charged with robbery and burglary in connection with the break in, police said.

He was yet to be arraigned by Saturday afternoon.

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Family and friends recount nurse’s fatal Times Square push, tragic aftermath 

 

By Georgett Roberts and Jesse O’Neill

 

 

 

Maria Ambrocio, the New Jersey nurse who died after being pushed by a deranged mugger in Times Square

 

 

Family and friends of the New Jersey nurse who was knocked down by a mugger in Times Square Friday struggled to come to terms with the distressing incident and its tragic aftermath as she was taken off life support.

“They just pulled the plug on her. She’s gone,” Carlito Spa Maria told The Post of his sister Maria Ambrocio, who suffered head trauma in the violent incident.

“I watched them pull the plug. I was holding her hand to the very last pulse,” he said at about 8:30 p.m.

“They knew it wasn’t looking good so I said my goodbye to her last night a couple of times. I told her, ‘You will be with our mother and father.'”

Carlito said their father died of COVID-19 in the Philippines in April. He said he and Maria were waiting for the coronavirus crisis to calm down to travel there and bury him in the family plot.

“We were supposed to go home and give my father a proper burial and now she is gone. Now, I have to do it.”

Emilia Cruz, 70, worked with victim Ambrocio, 58, at Bayonne Medical Center, and was with her Friday afternoon in Times Square.

The incident that killed her happened around 1:30 p.m. as Ambrocio and Cruz were walking up Broadway just past West 41st Street with Cruz’s brother and another friend after running some errands and eating lunch, Cruz told The Post.

“There were lots of people and we were trying to maneuver,” Cruz said, adding she saw the suspect being chased.

“I heard a big thump like something hit the concrete and, you know, it was loud so I said, ‘Wow, oh My God. What’s that?’ and I looked down and I saw her blouse, I didn’t see the face and I said, ‘Oh my God, Ning,’ I call her Ning. I said ‘Ning, what happened? Wake up,’ and she was out.

“She was already unconscious. She is not answering me. I keep picking her up. She was frothing from her mouth. And I said, ‘Call 911.’

“I don’t know if I was crying … was all emotion. I’m in shock, if you ask me.”

A bystander came over and tried to help, and another person said they had already called emergency workers, according to the heartbroken friend.

“Maria was flat on her back. She wasn’t bleeding at all. Her eyes were closed,” the emotional woman said.

“I cannot describe the feeling because everybody is different but when it’s close to you, to your heart … we are always together, we travel together, we work together,” Cruz said through tears.

“I’m speaking right now, I try to put a brave face to everyone because I’m a nurse so this is what we do every day when I work and I’m with patients and families but it’s different when it’s closer to you,” Cruz said at the hospital, while Ambrocio was clinging to life support.

“I want her to be in peace. I know there is no turning back. There is no hope.”

Jermaine Foster, 26, who is homeless, was charged early Saturday morning with robbery and assault in connection with the incidents, police said.

A distraught and barely audible Cruz struggled to share her feelings on the suspect.

“I don’t care what he does or what he did, you know, the only thing that I care about is that he took my friend away from me, from her family, from the people that love her so much, from a lot of circle of friends that we have,” she said.

Carlito had much stronger words for Foster, who had broken into a woman’s apartment right before the Times Square attack, police said.

“We want justice. I want him to be locked up for a very long time so he that he cannot hurt any more people. Throw away the keys so he won’t be able to get out anymore.”