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The man accused of attacking an elderly woman on a New York City subway last week — which went viral on Twitter over the weekend — was a dishwasher at acclaimed Tribeca restaurant Frenchette, the Post reports.
Now identified as Marc Gomez, the alleged attacker repeatedly kicks a 78-year-old woman in the face as she tries to shield herself with her hands in a video posted online. The incident happened on a northbound 2 train around 3 a.m. March 10 in the Bronx, while bystanders pulled out their phones to record the attack rather than help the victim, according to reports.
The New York police department’s chief of detectives Dermot Shea tweeted a video of Gomez’s face late last week asking for help identifying the attacker. Gomez was then recognized by someone who works at the sceney French bistro. Gomez’s fiancee told the Post that he had worked at Frenchette for the past year.
He was arrested Saturday and charged with felony assault. His lawyer says Gomez was defending himself against the woman, who he alleges had a knife and threatened to stab him. However, police have told the Post that the woman had no weapons on her at the time.
A Frenchette spokesperson tells Eater Gomez no longer works there after the incident.
“When it was discovered that the unidentified person in the video was an employee, we responded immediately, extending full cooperation to law enforcement, and assisted as per their direction,” Frenchette owners said in a statement, in which they called the attack a “heinous, senseless act.”
Frenchette was one of the biggest restaurant openings of 2018; it was slammed from the onset and earned shining reviews from critics, including two stars from Eater’s Ryan Sutton. Its debut was highly anticipated, mostly because of the two men behind it, chef-duo Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, known for helping build Keith McNally restaurants like Balthazar and Minetta Tavern.
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