Ian Atkinson, Dorchester, Massachusetts man convicted of assaulting 59 year old woman for not saying ‘good-morning’ to stranger as defendant walked past her. Will spend two years in jail.
Say good morning to prison…. A Boston area man was on Monday convicted to two years jail for attacking a woman for not saying “good morning” as he walked by her in the summer of 2023 in Dorchester.
Ian Atkinson, 34, of Dorchester, Mass. was convicted of assault and battery and assault with a dangerous weapon for the attack on July 13, 2023. The victim, a 59-year-old woman, said she was watering her plants in her front yard when she was approached by a stranger, who said ‘when people say good morning to you, you should say hi you crazy (expletive).’
The victim according to NBC Boston was able to record some of the attack on her cellphone, along with surveillance footage captured from a nearby home being presented in court. Prosecutors said Atkinson repeatedly punched the 59 year old in the face and threw her against a fence. He stopped when the woman bit him.
Defendant insisted he was the ‘real victim!’
The attack left the victim with a broken nose, bruises to her head and face, and a broken blood vessel in her left eye.
But there was more.
Surveillance footage captured Atkinson coming close to hitting the un-identified victim with his car before fleeing the scene. Atkinson was a few days after the attack using his license plate, which the victim got before he drove off.
Detectives identified Atkinson through video and learned he had been wearing a GPS monitor from a previous arrest. Officers arrested him a few days after the attack.
And now it gets ridiculous.
Atkinson’s attorney argued that the woman was the aggressor and sprayed him with the garden hose, but prosecutors said the video does not show any of that.
‘For this victim, a pleasant summer morning descended into a violent and cruel ordeal for the most inexplicable of reasons. But, even as she was being attacked, she had the presence of mind to record video, and that decision, along with her brave testimony, provided enough evidence for the judge to make his decision. I join all the members of the community in thanking this survivor for her courage,’ Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a media statement.
Atkinson waived his right to a jury trial. A judge found him guilty and sentenced him to two years in state prison, followed by two years of probation. Indeed.
