By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-15 11:08:45 | Updated at 2024-12-15 13:49:53
2 hours ago
A New York financial consultant and son of a Florida judge allegedly barged into the office of an Upper East Side optometrist and knocked him out cold, then fled to New Jersey where he sucker-punched two other health-care workers — breaking one’s jaw and nose.
Dr. Ron Goldstein, 63, not only suffered a bloody head injury requiring eight stitches, but is dismayed that detectives classified the attack as only a misdemeanor — a decision critics call an attempt to keep NYC’s crime numbers down. The NYPD never arrested the disturbed suspect, who was identified thanks to swift actions by Goldstein’s staff and daughter.
“I would like this guy to be charged with the appropriate crime that he committed against me,” Goldstein told The Post. “If someone’s going to attack me, they should certainly have to face the consequences.”
The shocking assault against Goldstein occurred on Oct. 17, when a man swept past the receptionist at his office on E. 77th Street, burst into a room where the eye doctor was examining a female senior citizen, and punched him to the floor, knocking him unconscious for several minutes.
He suffered a huge bump on his head, and a gash where his eyeglasses smashed onto his face.
The assailant then casually left.
“I never actually saw him,” Goldstein said. “I was staring at a retinal image and had a patient in front of me. He came right behind me and hit me in the back of the head. The reason I know that is because I saw it on videotape afterwards.”
The office manager and a technician dashed outside and snapped photos of the assailant as he inserted ear pods, picked up his cell phone and walked calmly down the block, they said.
Goldstein’s 25-year-old daughter, Tai, posted the photos in a TikTok video asking anyone who recognized the suspect to call her or police.
“We cannot let this disgusting human being roam the streets of New York freely,” she pleaded.
In less than a day, she received “an overwhelming response” from people who had worked with, befriended, dated or otherwise knew the alleged attacker, Goldstein said.
Tipsters identified him as Eric Moneyham, whose LinkedIn profile identifies him as a former consultant at accounting firms KPMG and Price Waterhouse Coopers. His parents live in Florida, where his father is a workers compensation judge.
Moneyham has an apartment near Goldstein’s office, and once came for an eye exam, the staff found.
After the 1:30 pm attack on Goldstein, Moneyham made a beeline to Bergen County, where he broke into a house in Wyckoff township at about 4 pm, police said. He also posted a message on Linkedin threatening a resident, “I’d hit you in the head so hard you’d hit the concrete and be leaking blood,” according to a criminal complaint charging him with burglary and harassment.
Moneyham landed in Bergen County Jail. On Oct. 20, while undergoing an exam at the lockup’s medical center in Paramus, he “sucker punched” a staffer, knocking him to the ground – and pounded him more than 40 times, breaking his jaw and nose, says a criminal complaint charging him with aggravated assault.
He also railed against “all child molesters and other people he believes molested him in the past,” records show.
Five days later, he allegedly punched a female doctor in the face, and was charged with another count of aggravated assault.
Meanwhile, the NYPD has not put a detainer on Moneyham — calling him a “a person of interest” — to bring him back to NYC for arrest in the Goldstein assault, which cops originally classified as a felony, but downgraded to a misdemeanor.
Retired NYPD Lt. John Macari, who co-hosts a podcast on law-enforcement, blasted the switch.
“There was an intent to cause serious physical injury, and it caused a serious physical injury. It’s a felony assault as clear as day, and there should be an investigation as to why it’s not,” Macari told The Post.
“It appears to be a downgrade by someone in the upper echelon looking to keep the crime numbers down,” Macari said, referring to Mayor Adams’ mantra that NYC is the safest big city in America. “It’s perception management.”
Moneyham, who remains in jail pending a detention hearing, will undergo a psychiatric evaluation, said his defense lawyer Frank Carbonetti.
Despite a supportive family and a successful career, “he hit some sort of mental speed bump which caused a derailment,” Carbonetti said, adding that Moneyham has no prior criminal record.
The lawyer cited a similarity with Luigi Mangione, charged in the murder of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson:
“You’re looking at two individuals you’d never think would do anything remotely violent,” he said.
