A Manhattan judge blasted self-proclaimed “Harlem Gatsby” and restaurateur Dard Coaxum as cowardly before sentencing him to the maximum of 15 months in jail for slugging a stranger so hard that the man suffered permanent brain damage and eventually died.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Ann Scherzer said Friday she questioned Coaxum’s “moral fiber” for fleeing the scene after punching Julio Torres who fell onto the pavement and cracked his skull.
“It’s a tremendously cowardly, selfish way to behave,” she said of the June 26, 2015 attack.
She also lashed into him for being unrepentant. “I did not see any remorse,” she said. “I saw tremendous contempt for the prosecutor and for the court process.”
As the judge spoke, the victim’s mother sobbed in the gallery.
“Nothing is going to give me back my son,” wailed Irene Torres whose only child died one week after Coaxum’s February 4 conviction of misdemeanor assault and attempted assault.
A dear friend of Torres, celebrity event planner Colin Cowie, appeared in court and railed against the system that “definitely failed us” for not slapping Coaxum with a felony charge.
“He made joy and light come wherever he spent his time,” Cowie recalled.