New Bedford Elder Assault Case Results in Prison Time
Bristol County District Attorney’s Office
Thomas M. Quinn III
District Attorney
Press Release
July 20, 2023
A 34-year-old New Bedford man who violently assaulted a 72-year-old disabled man was convicted by a jury of his peers this week in Fall River Superior Court, and will spend the next three to five years in state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
After a three-day trial, Derrick Blakney was convicted by the jury on Wednesday of Assault and Battery on a Person Over the Age of 60-Causing Serious Bodily Injury.
New Bedford Police were called to an Ash Street home on May 20, 2021 for a reported assault. On that date, at around 9:30 pm, the defendant knocked on the victim’s door and asked to see a person named Lupe. After the victim’s wife told the defendant that no one by that name lived there, she went and told her husband that the defendant was still standing on their porch. The victim then exited the home and asked the defendant why he was still there and whether there was anything he could do to help him. After locking the front door from the outside, the victim was shoved by the defendant off of the porch, landing on his right knee, The victim was in immense pain immediately after hitting the ground and was unable to get up. The defendant then proceeded to kick the victim multiple times until the victim’s adult son pulled the defendant off of him. Several neighbors also assisted the son and kept the defendant there until police arrived.
The victim suffered a broken nose, a broken maxillary bone in his face, a laceration, a chip fracture in his femur, bleeding and swelling to his face.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Gillian Kirsch and the state prison sentence was imposed by Judge Sharon Donatelle. At the time of this incident, the defendant was on probation for a shots fired incident in New Bedford.
“This was an unprovoked, senseless and brutal assault on a 72 year old man. The only explanation is that the defendant is prone to violence based on previously being convicted of a shooting. The victim was seriously injured, and the defendant is clearly a danger to the community. He needed to be kept off the street to protect the public,” District Attorney Quinn said.
Contact:
Gregg Miliote
Director of Communications
774-292-9576