A Boston man is behind bars after police said he attacked a woman for not saying "good morning" earlier this month in Dorchester. Some of the assault was caught on camera.
Police responded to a home on Balsam Street on July 13 on a report of an assault in progress. When they arrived, they found a 59-year-old woman who had been beaten in her front yard. The woman told police she was approached by a stranger while she was gardening, and was attacked after she did not say "good morning" to him.
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"He approaches her in a way that is entirely unprovoked and immediately attacks her. He broke her nose and other significant injuries. Her eye was also hemorrhaging," Assistant District Attorney Michael Tomasini said.
The woman was able to record some of the attack on her cellphone. Prosecutors said surveillance video from a nearby home also shows the suspect come close to hitting her with his car before taking off.
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Police arrested 33-year-old Ian Atkinson of Dorchester a few days after the attack. They said the woman was able to get his license plate before he drove away from the scene.
In court Tuesday, prosecutors said he was not tough to find because he was already wearing a GPS monitoring device. His criminal history includes several assault- and drug-related charges, but his attorney argued he is the victim in this case.
"Mr. Atkinson did not assault the victim. What he did was he was defending himself because she was biting him," defense attorney John Hightower said.
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Atkinson said the woman was the aggressor and sprayed him with the garden hose, but prosecutors said the video does not show any of that.
"There's no water on the ground. There's no water on the defendant," Tomasini said.
At Tuesday's hearing, a judge found Atkinson to be dangerous and ordered him to remain behind bars for 120 days. He is due back in court in September.
