The Upper East Side father was attacked by a group of thugs about a month ago. It's near the same location where former Gov. David Paterson and his son-in-law were attacked Friday night.
After word spread about the assault on Patterson and Anthony Sliwa, family members who are Patterson's neighbors spoke out Saturday about the horrific ordeal.
The September 5 incident followed a bizarre confrontation between the family's 17-year-old daughter, her guardian, and the attackers on the Q train.
“'What do you see in those ugly teeth?'” the teens asked the girl, who has a genetic disorder called Williams syndrome.
“'You are retarded.'”
When the babysitter who was accompanying her on the subway stood up to protect her, the teens asked the woman if she wanted to fight, the girl's mother, Melissa Felsher, recalled. The girl's mother asked the boy to remain anonymous, fearing for his safety.
“They said, 'Slavery was abolished years ago.' Why protect her?” Felsher said.
The babysitter is black.
Everyone got off the train at 96th Street, but the teens then stole the babysitter's cell phone and began surrounding her and her attendant.
That's when the teen called her mother.
“Mom, mom, help me! They're surrounding us!” Felscher, 57, recalled through tears. “I started running towards the train stop. I called the police.”
She also called the girl's father, Gary Portnoy. Mr. Portnoy ran to the station, only to be forced to jump by the children.
“One kid waved a cane at me and before I knew it, all the canes were stacked on top of each other. I got tangled up with that one kid and before I knew it they were jumping on me and I was trying to fight back. He started hitting me while I was there,” Portnoy, 55, said.
“My nose was bleeding, my head was bruised and I was kicked and punched.”
The father had a bump the size of a golf ball on his head and had to be checked for a concussion and broken bones.
“It took about 20 minutes for the police to arrive,” he said.
The attackers fled on a bus headed downtown.
The traumatized girl said she can't get the episode out of her head.
“It plays over and over in my head, so it feels like I'm watching it all over again,” the teenager said.
“I was so scared and I thought it was the end. I thought I would never see my dad or my friends again,” she said.
She and her parents said the beating of Patterson and her son-in-law brought back their fears.
Police arrested three of the suspects, but family members said there were three more.
It is unclear whether any of the attackers were the same people who attacked Patterson.
There needs to be more police presence in this area.
“We have catch-and-release in this city…we can't continue to let kids go,” Portnoy said.
“That's why they go wild and do what they do, because they know there are no consequences for what they're doing. , because that’s scary.”
A 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were each charged with third-degree assault. Meanwhile, an 18-year-old boy was arrested, but details of the charges are being sealed, police officials said.
Her mother was shocked to hear about Patterson's experience.
“When our friends and neighbors, the former governor and his son heard about it, it was shocking to us because we were so traumatized and so scared that we kept repeating the story for weeks. Because it took me a very long time to get away from that,” Felscher said.
“All we can do is have a real understanding and sympathy for what they are going through as a family.”
