Attacked NYC retail workers lash out at Carl Heastie over soft-on-crime stance: Perp ‘almost killed me’
NY Post
A pair of brutally attacked Big Apple retail workers have joined the chorus of critics lashing out at state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie over his soft stance on violent criminals, claiming Tuesday he is flat-out “wrong’’ and just doesn’t “care.”
“New York has become one of the worst places on the planet. Criminals do whatever they want to do. Why? Because there’s no penalty. There’s no deterrent,” Ramon Acevedo, a grandfather and former Manhattan grocery store manager, raged to The Post.
The 68-year-old victim — who was nearly bashed to death with a hammer at a Gristedes supermarket in Chelsea in July 2020 — ripped Heastie (D-Bronx) for refusing to support beefing up penalties for those who violently target retail workers, claiming, “I just don’t believe raising penalties is ever a deterrent to crime.”
Acevedo, who ended up retiring in the wake of his bloody assault after 47 years at the store, was left with a gaping gash in his forehead when his accused attacker, Oscar Apronti, came at him swinging with the hammer.
“This guy almost killed me. Another half an inch to the right would have ended my life,” Acevedo said.
His alleged attacker, whom he had recognized from prior shoplifting attempts at his store, was also accused of assaulting a worker with a broken bottle at the nearby Chelsea Fine Food bodega just three months earlier.
