Alleged NYC toddler attacker was freed after previous unprovoked assault on a child
New York Post
March 19, 2022
Sophia Rincon, 3, was allegedly attacked by Chris Elder on March
11, 2022 -- just months after he allegedly struck another child
Unhinged toddler attacker Christopher Elder was free to hurt another child after prosecutors did not ask for bail — or pursue more serious changes — after his brutal alleged assault on a 9-year-old girl months earlier.
Elder, who left a 3-year-old Queens girl bloodied on March 11 when he kicked the wagon she was riding in and sent her tumbling out, was charged with only misdemeanors and violations in similar unprovoked attacks on three people in December.
The 31-year-old has been arrested eight times, police said. He also has a history of psychiatric problems, according to a relative.
He is accused of setting upon Raquel Esquivel and her daughter on Dec. 11 as they walked along Kissena Boulevard in the middle of the afternoon, allegedly punching the girl in the forehead, according to a criminal complaint. He then went on to punch a 66-year-old man, cops said.
Esquivel told The Post that as Elder started yelling at them and charged at her daughter with a glass bottle in his hand, she frantically tried to shield the girl.
“That’s when he launched … and he just began to hit me. He punched me in my face, my back. He hit my daughter on her face as well, on the forehead,” she said. “We just dropped to the floor. I don’t know at what point we fell, I don’t know if I lost consciousness, but we fell and he just continued to hit us.”
Chris Elder, 31, has been arrested eight times police said
She said she was told by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office that Elder was “gonna walk.”
“I said ‘Are you kidding me?’ They said “No,'” she said.
Esquivel said news last week of the bloody attack against 3-year-old Sophia Loja set her back emotionally.
The angelic toddler was with her grandmother in a cart when Elder allegedly started yelling at them before kicking the wagon. Sophia needed five stitches to close the cut on her tiny face, according to authorities.
Esquivel said she took her two daughters to visit Sophia this week to show their support.
Three-year-old Sophia was riding in a wagon when Elder allegedly attacked
“It just sucks (for) such a young little girl to have to go through that. It shouldn’t have to come to that point if this gentlemen already had prior arrests,” she said of Elder.
Sophia’s grandmother, Maria Zamora, said the tot was still scared to go outside, as was the rest of the family.
“That’s not right,” she said of Elder not being put in jail in December. “People need to be protected. There’s no protection if that’s what’s happening.”
In the attack on Esquivel and her daughter, Elder faced only misdemeanor assault charges and even less serious violations for harassment. Katz’s office said because they were only misdemeanor counts, Elder was not eligible for bail, which could have kept him behind bars.
Sophia is the most recent of Elder’s alleged victims
New York’s 2019 bail reform law eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors. Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing a series of modifications that would give judges more discretion to set bail.
Instead, in Elder’s case, the DA’s office asked only for supervised release. A city-contracted nonprofit — the New York City Criminal Justice Agency — was to provide monitoring something its website says it does that with weekly or monthly “check ins.” Those under supervised release are supposed to be referred to needed services, including for mental health.
There is no indication in public records Elder was ordered to have a psychiatric evaluation. Aubrey Fox, the non-profit’s director, referred questions to City Hall. The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice would not comment.
Former Queens prosecutor Eugene O’Donnell said DAs used to fight to bring the most serious charges against defendants.
Elder allegedly assaulted a 9-year-old girl just months before his alleged attack on Sophia
“In a case like this especially, you sought the highest possible charges,” he said. “You went to great lengths. You bent over backwards, you stretched the law as far as it could be stretched to hold the person accountable who did this.”
Now, he said, prosecutors seek to coddle the accused.
“This is a system now that is literally focused exclusively on the wellbeing of the offender,” said O’Donnell, who was also an NYPD officer and who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “That’s the impulse of the prosecutor now, which is extremely twisted and perverse.”
A spokesman for Katz said that “In light of the pattern of victimization of a vulnerable population, we are still investigating and exploring charging decisions in these cases.”
Katz’s office finally asked that bail be set after Elder’s March 11 arrest. Judge Stephen Antignani ordered $10,000 cash bail.
Antignani also sent Elder to jail without bail on two other cases — a Feb. 25 alleged assault with a glass bottle on a man at a U-Haul facility and a charged violation of an order of protection against his own uncle on the same day he is accused of attacking Sophia.
Elder was also ordered to undergo a psych evaluation. He is being held on Rikers Island.
Elder’s grandfather, James, said his grandson had long suffered from mental health problems and did not regularly take his medication.
“He needs to be put somewhere where they watch him every day and make sure he takes his medicine,” the grandfather said. “He definitely needs help.”
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