Dobbs Ferry Man Jailed for Assaulting Two Teenagers

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June 21, 2024

By Rick Pezzullo—-

A 63-year-old Dobbs Ferry man was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison for assaulting two teenagers in September 2022, along with a separate one-year sentence in a hate crime case for harassing and threatening a 13-year-old boy.

“We are holding the defendant accountable for his vicious attack on two teenagers and his repeated anti-Hispanic hate directed at a young boy,” said Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah. “While the teenagers have been able to recover from their physical injuries, all three victims continue to deal with the trauma inflicted by this defendant.”

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Vincent Pappas pled guilty on Sept. 14, 2023 before State Supreme Court Justice James McCarty in Westchester County Court to Assault in the First Degree, a felony, and Assault in the Third Degree, a misdemeanor. He has remained in Westchester County Jail since his arrest of the 2022 assault.

According to Rocah, on Sept. 29, 2022, at approximately 5:35 p.m., Pappas followed two 15-year-olds into a restaurant on Main Street in Dobbs Ferry. As he started yelling at them, Pappas punched one of the teenagers in the face, causing him to fall down, and continued to punch him, at which point the second victim attempted to physically stop Pappas. Pappas then pushed the second teenager through the glass storefront window. A portion of the incident was captured on surveillance video.

One victim was transported to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he was treated for a collapsed lung, a cervical spine fracture and multiple lacerations. The second victim went to St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers the next day and was treated for swelling on the head and pain to the face, jaw, chest and thighs.

Pappas was arrested by the Dobbs Ferry Police Department shortly after the incident.

A mother of one of the teenagers stated in court, “While he survived his physical injuries, the mental trauma will stay with him for the rest of his life. We are grateful for the team who brought this man to justice and hope that he will never be able to harm anyone ever again.”

Pappas also pled guilty on Feb. 1 to the hate crime of Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree, a misdemeanor.

According to Rocah, between July 5 and Sept. 29, 2022, Pappas repeatedly harassed and threatened a 13-year-old boy, who is of Guatemalan descent, on a Main Street sidewalk in Dobbs Ferry. During that period of time, Pappas repeatedly said he hated people from Guatemala and would kill the victim if he didn’t leave the country.

Pappas was arrested on Jan. 19, 2023 while in custody at Westchester County Jail on his prior case. He was sentenced to 364 days of incarceration, which will merge with the six-year prison sentence for his assault conviction.

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