A man repeatedly punched a woman in the head, breaking her nose, in an attack in Boston this month that began when he confronted the stranger for not saying good morning, prosecutors said Monday.
Ian Atkinson, 33, has been held without bail in the allegedly unprovoked attack on the morning of July 13 and is due back in court Tuesday. The woman was punched in the head at least seven times in the incident, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said.
"It's difficult to comprehend the viciousness and randomness of such an attack, in this case on a stranger doing nothing more than watering her lawn. All over a perceived—and perhaps nonexistent—slight," District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement as his office revealed details on the incident Monday.
The woman who was injured told police that she was attacked by a man who cursed at her, while she watered her lawn in Dorchester, for not saying good morning when he walked by, prosecutors said. Taken aback by his aggressive demeanor, the woman started taping the interaction on her phone.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
Atkinson got out of a black Mercedes that was parked nearby and started to hit her, then got back into the vehicle and swerved towards her before driving off, prosecutors said. The bloodied woman caught his license plate on camera and told officers who showed up at the scene that she thought the man was wearing a GPS tracking device.
Investigators tracked the Mercedes to Atkinson and found he looked like the woman's attacker, according to prosecutors. He was out on bail in an assault and gun possession case, they said, and his GPS tracker indicated he was at the scene of the attack when it happened.
Atkinson was arrested days later and appeared in court Thursday on charges of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury and assault and battery with a car. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak to the charges.
Prosecutors noted the woman said she bit her attacker in the shoulder during the assault. Hayden credited the woman's bravery and "presence of mind not only to get crucial video of her attacker but also to notice that he was strapped with a GPS device."
