By Gus Saltonstall
A longtime neighborhood doorman was brutally assaulted earlier this month on the Upper West Side, and his building has launched a fundraiser to help pay his medical bills.
Nicolate Lica, known as George, is one of the doormen at 255 West 88th Street, between West End and Broadway. He is 79 years old.
On the night of March 7, a man entered the building who didn’t live at the address. When Lica asked him to leave, the unknown man attacked him, punching him the face multiple times and beating him with a broomstick, police said.
Lica was rushed to Mount Sinai West with multiple injuries, but was in stable condition, police said.
“Nicolate ‘George’ Lica has been a dedicated doorman for our building, always greeting residents with a warm smile and helping to keep our community safe,” reads a fundraiser for Lica launched earlier this week. “Recently, Nicolate, while on duty in our lobby, was the victim of a violent assault that left him hospitalized. The injuries he sustained are serious, and his recovery will be long and difficult. Even after he is released from the hospital, Nicolate will likely need extra support to move around, making everyday tasks much more challenging than before.”
The attacker was later arrested and identified as Moshe Dardashty, 29, a resident of West 91st Street, police said. Dardashty was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the NYPD.
The fundraiser, which was started by a resident of Lica’s building, has raised more than $5,300 as of Tuesday morning.
You can find out more about it — HERE.
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Where is the attacker Dardashty now? I hope not just roaming around on the UWS with a court date off in the future.
Afraid that is the case. A Rikers database lookup indicates he was bailed out on 3/14 after someone paid his $50k bail.
Do we know started the altercation?
I Heard from a tenant in that building that dardsahty acted in self defense after he was struck first
Watch the security footage from the WABC report. Clearly, Dardashy got physical first.
https://abc7ny.com/post/doorman-attacked-upper-west-side-apartment-building-lobby-residents-coming-together-show-support-raise-money/18727143/
Yeah a 71 year old man was just trying to do his job is the bad guy here, EVEN IF he tried punching this asshole the guy is only 29 AND he was told that he couldn’t go up the elevator so there’s no way you can say he was only protecting himself
Did that tenanf share lobby security cam footage that supprts the claim that the doorman punched first?
The info says an unknown man entered the building and doorman asked him to leave. He was doing his job. This is awful- a lot of this going on in our neck of the woods. Will go to council meeting tomorrow night.Afraid to take walks by Riverside Park-first time in 35 years!
Ffs, the victim was 79 years old. The attacker was 29 years old. The attacker punched him in the face repeatedly and beat him with a broomstick putting him in the hospital for days. Self-defense, for pity’s sake. What is wrong with you?
It’s possible that the 29-year-old has some sort of severe mental issues or is on meth and needs help himself, and if so I hope he gets it (and isn’t out on the street until he does). But that’s as far as I’ll go. Nothing, NOTHING, can justify a 29-year-old man beating a 79-year-old man and putting him in the hospital. Literally nothing.
Yeah he needs help and he can get it in Rikers
You are 1,000% correct. Shreiber’s post is shocking , disgusting and brainless. I, too, wanted to say “What is wrong with you?” and you said it for me. Thankyou.
Curious if this would be bail eligible or not ?
This incident is ten days old. No activity by the 20th Precinct, even with all the cameras on the UWS? No public notice asking for information? That does not add up
The attacker was arrested, so presumably the precinct didn’t need any further help.
I HOPE he in jail. I’m not optimistic.
For many years in the west 80’s and 90’s there was a coalition of buildings that chipped in money and hired a private , unarmed roaming guard during nights. It may be time to reinstate this patrol.
But why? We have highly effective teams of social workers and violence interrupters who not only step in and protect civilians, but make sure that violent, mentally ill criminals are apprehended with compassion and understanding. It’s a win-win for everyone, especially in the UWS.
Lol
Well, too much of this has been happening up here and I don’t feel safe. I don’t see anyone around protecting us.
How do YOU know he is mentally ill and in need of social workers??Why don’t you show compassion forthe blameless 79 year old doorman? Jeez!
Thank you
Agreed. This is just awful and what an experience for this doorman protecting us. Do we need unbreakable doors and speakers outside of our buildings? Two doormen instead of one? They need to feel safe and able to step outside safely. In the last 6 months, a lot of crime has been taking place. I don’t recall so much as this last year.
I believe he was being sarcastic.
Thank you. I hope you are right. But he should have found a way to have used words that made that clear. Not funny. At all.
We don’t have those AND we don’t have effective foot patrol policing.
Cops on foot patrol where much more common in the De Blasio years.
But neither interrupters or cops can do much about an attack off the street in a lobby.
Why couldn’t police do anything about this sort of attack? Such an event would most definitely be considered exigent circumstances for a law enforcement office to enter the premises.
Unless the cops were in the lobby, they couldn’t have done anything.
I answered your question in my initial post.
Cops on foot patrol aren’t outside every apartment building on every block ready to respond to an attack in the lobby.
I haven’t ever seen ANY in 36 years. I’m on 85th and WEA. As if life wasn’t hard enough….
I used to see cops on foot patrol in the west 60s and 70s.
Think about what he wrote and to what he was replying. He was saying that the police couldn’t have PREVENTED the attack, not saying they couldn’t investigate it.
No indication this person was mentally ill so your snarky suggestion does not apply. Seems NYPD did their jobs properly, good work everyone!
Sure, the fact that he might not be mentally ill changes the situation materially.
Are you ok, UWS Dad?! For once you at roast acknowledged that NYPD does their job. Time to hold your buddy Braggg accountable maybe?
Credit where credit is due of course, I’m glad NYPD is doing the job we pay them $5bn a year to do. Doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
Are you filling-in today for Marty, a commenter who frequently posts the same heavy-handed “joke” about sending in social workers, etc. in crime situations, presumably poking fun at “woke” ideas? Even good jokes/clever remarks become less amusing when repeated over and over, and this one wasn’t even very funny the first time around. Time for some new material.
Hahaha. And, just as you referenced, someone named “Marty” posted a similarly unfunny “joke” in the next thread. Can you imagine being so predictable?!
Yeah, it’s much “funnier” when reality exceeds the joke.
It was NEVER funny.
How can co anyone joke about this? 78 years old here. A doorman was hurt. This is traumatic for him!
79
Hopefully the administration will assign a top social worker to Dardashty so he gets the help he deserves. No one darest blame this man until he has gotten the understanding and help he so desperately cried out for by cudgeling a 79 man to the point he was hospitalized. That is simply a cry in the wilderness from a wounded psyche.
Oh please, that’s such crap
I’m a liberal,we need to know what we did as a society to cause this. We are the problem.
Talk about wounded psychs….
Marty: give it a rest; not clever, not funny.
Everyone’s a critic. I am too. I think some of the proposed policies of the new administration are not credible, not workable and will make the city less safe. So I am sorry if my consistent messaging offends you but I wouldn’t expect it will stop.
Is that a joke? Are we supposed to feel sorrier for the perpetrator than for that poor victim??? Hello???
It’s sarcasm that highlights the idiotic left-wing policies that blames the victims rather than the perpetrators, believes that bail and jailing people for violent crimes is somehow “racist”, oh and let’s defund the police. Get it now?
I don’t blame the victims. I wouldn’t want to defund the police. I am not racist. You are blaming and dividing. None of us are okay with dangerous and criminal actions imposed on others unless we’re unhinged.Yes, we are both angry.
I get it. I still don’t think it comes off as funny.
OMG the doorman Nicolate “George” Lica is 79, almost 80 and working a job on his feet !!! I imagine he was close to retirement. Thoughts on the criminal and his unknown motivation and/or mental and emotional needs is disturbing and puzzling. George deserves more.
Angia, if my sarcasm is lost on you I apologize. Of course the victim is the primary concern and the criminal should serve a lengthy prison term. My issue is with the new administration’s poorly conceived policies that will make the city less safe.
Since he was injured while working wouldn’t the doorman union’s workers’ comp cover his medical bills?
If you look at the GoFundMe, George is going to need more help than medical bills. He was badly injured and he was 79 years old– he’s going to need help even beyond his medical bills doing basic household tasks and taking care of himself. He may need to move to an accessible space.
I have to say that the tenor of some of the comments depress the heck out of me and make me despair for humanity. This is a 79-year-old guy who was still working and who was injured trying to protect the people inside his building. It will change his life and he doesn’t deserve that . And instead of compassion, some are doing the same stupid political arguments/dumb jokes/petty comments because they care more about their political hobby horse than about this human being.
YES!!!
Do you really think workers’ comp covers excellent rehab and physical therapy+transport and help with life at home?
Next time….
and no consideration of his humanity? What that was like? Getting bashed by a young man……not knowing if he’d live or die.
And now Mr. Lica needs to worry about recovey and long-term impairment.
Harassing or targeting the boy or his family online won’t help anyone, it only adds more harm to an already difficult situation. They’re human beings dealing with something serious, and they deserve space and compassion while the proper channels handle it. This post should be deleted, you’re only causing more harm.
People ask why I leave snarky comments about sympathy for criminals run amok. You provide a perfect example of why I make those posts. He is not a boy, he is a man and a criminal who could have easily killed a senior citizen and upstanding member of our community. I haven’t seen anyone attacking his family but frankly he and his actions are fair game. He demonstrated wanton cruelty, a propensity for violence and was callous in selecting his victim and the amount of violence he chose the mete out for no reason. You say we don’t know what happened, but what could have possibly have happened that would make you say, “ah, yes that elderly working man deserved to be beaten to the point he required a multi-day hospital stay”. The feasible region of circumstances that would justify it are basically zero, so no, we don’t need more information. Your compassion is misplaced and your reasoning and logic are distorted to the point of nonsense.
First, he’s not a boy– he’s almost 30 for pity’s sake. But more to the point, who is harassing him or his family? Many of us are (rightly) horrified that a 29-year-old attacked a 79-year-old man, that’s not the same thing as targeting or harassing them. Are you implying that even reporting on this incident is targeting or harassing them?
Ya it is absolutely harassing them. You have no idea what transpired. You’re creating harassment and online hate by posting outrage without full, verified facts. And whipping people up against someone and their family, is exactly how situations spiral out of control. Shame on you.
If you are actually interested in seeing what transpired, someone posted footage of the attack in one of the comments above. It’s quite clear the 29-year-old attacked him and the doorman didn’t even hit back. He just tried to get away. And he was telling the guy that he couldn’t go up and visit a tenant per that tenant’s request. He was protecting the tenant. I repeat, shame on you for trying to tarnish the doorman to defend this 29-year-old thug. And yes, having watched that footage, I now will say he’s a thug.
Here are actual facts we know: The doorman is 79 years old. The attacker is 29 years old. The doorman was punched repeatedly in the face and beaten with a broomstick and spent several days in the hospital. We also know that the 29-year-old does not live in the building (and therefore should have left when the doorman asked him to leave). Those are facts. Can you identify anything in this story that is false? Reporting something that actually occurred is not harassment. I’m a lawyer. I can tell you what harassment is and it’s not that.
Do tell me some facts that could possibly EVER have justified a 29-year-old man doing that to a 79-year-old man. Let’s suppose for a minute that the 79-year-old threw a punch at the 29 year old. Even if that occurred (and that is purely in the realm of invention, by the way), are you telling me that the 29-year-old needed to beat the s*** out of him and send him to the hospital? How about walking away? I will bet you that the 29-year-old doesn’t have a mark on him unless it came from his hitting the 79-year-olds face with his fist.
There are a couple of possibilities here, but none of them are inconsistent with this story. One the 29-year-old could be severely mentally ill or on drugs and therefore not fully responsible for his actions. If that’s the case, I’m assuming we’re going to see a big apology from the 29 year old/hus family and some remorse. A second possibility is that the 29-year-old has huge anger management issues and was furious at the doorman asking him to leave the building. A third possibility is that the 29-year-old is simply a thug, but I suspect it’s one of the first two . I suppose it’s theoretically possible that the 79-year-old threw an unprovoked punch at the 29-year-old (I’m sorry it sounds ridiculous even as I type it but whatever), but even if that happened, as I noted above, it absolutely does not justify the 29-year-old putting him in the hospital. In my opinion, it wouldn’t even justify hitting the 79-year-old back with equal force. A. 29-year-old could easily subdue a 79-year-old without putting him in the hospital, or alternatively and better yet walk away. File a report for assault if you must. He repeatedly punched a 79-year-old guy and beat him with a broomstick. I repeat a 29-year-old guy repeatedly punched a 79-year-old guy and beat him with a broomstick, and put him in the hospital for days.
My only explanation for you is that you are this 29-year-old guy’s aunt or grandmother and are absolutely not objective. But feel free to explain to me the circumstances that in your opinion could ever in this world justify a 29-year-old man repeatedly punching a 79-year-old man in the face and beating him with a broomstick and putting him in the hospital. Let your imagination run wild. You still can’t do it. Heck, even if the 79-year-old had been beating up the 29-year-old’s grandmother (and that did not happen), the 29-year-old could have defended his grandmother without putting the 79-year-old guy in the hospital and beating him with a broomstick.
Either the 29-year-old is severely troubled or he’s a thug. But what he wasn’t was in any way excused or justified.
Moshe Dardashty should get 59 years of very hard labor.
What a weird thing to post when there’s much more to say on this matter I fear we’re missing what might have led up to this. Context matters. I’ve known this guy he’s not what you’re putting him out to be. Please stop ruining people reputations.
Well, why are you stalling… do tell. The suspense is killing me.
Jack Cohen — Speaking of what a weird thing to post… Are you kidding me with this? George is 79 years old and was doing his job. You’re suggesting that his 29-year-old attacker who attacked him was somehow a victim here, or that George brought this attack upon himself? There is no context whatsoever in which It’s remotely justified for a 29-year-old to attack a 79-year-old and put him in the hospital, and no context in which your comment is appropriate. Shame on you.
Which guy do you know? The doorman or Dardashty?
What a terrible thing. I donated and I shared the GoFundMe page on social media. I hope George recovers soon.
Donate if you can
Attacking of someone over 65 carries additional charges.
Why was a 79-year old man still working full time as a doorman? Okay, he might just be dedicated and loves his building and the residents and would get bored at home. I hope that’s why he was still working. But somehow it seems more likely that the outrageous cost of living in NYC and the lack of affordable housing, even for those making good union wages, might have something to do with it.
My dad worked as a doorman in Florida at the same age. He was in decent health and needed to feel useful, be around others and have a job to go to daily. Sitting at home or golfing all day was not his thing. It might be just that. Older folks may have some of the same needs as anyone else who wants their lives to matter
Absurd speculation.
$5,300 in an UWS building with a doorman? That’s all?? Shameful. I’m sure that’s boosting Georges spirits.
It was $5300 at the time this was posted. It’s double that now and increasing– I think it just takes a little to get the word out and the Rag article definitely helped do that. My suggestion to you is to donate yourself. (I donated and I don’t live in George’s building.) That said, I do hope everyone in George’s building is donating, and if they aren’t, I’m a little ashamed of them.
Thank you for the write-up! We all hope George will fully recover!
Our building locks the door at 10pm, either you are known to the doorman as a resident or the resident has to personally go down to the lobby to retrieve his/her late night guest. Otherwise the outer door is not unlocked.