Albany man, 20, admits to assaulting 87-year-old victim

A 20-year-old Albany man admitted in court Tuesday to assaulting a man more than four times his age.

David Tarver, of West Street, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree assault, a felony.

Tarver was accused of grabbing an 87-year-old man by the shirt through a fence, and punching him in the face Aug. 16 on Broadway, according to papers previously filed in the case.

The victim had spotted Tarver’s friend in his yard and asked Tarver what he was doing, according to papers filed then.

A week after the incident, the victim could barely stand and pushed his Life Alert. After being taken to the hospital, he was diagnosed with bleeding on his brain.

Tarver was also later accused of throwing a metal pot through the victim’s car window, causing the glass to shatter.

Taking the plea was Schenectady County Court Judge Karen Drago. Drago refused to take less than a plea to second-degree assault with a two-year sentence.

Tarver’s attorney, John Della Ratta, said that prosecutors initially offered a plea to attempted assault. Plea offers are all subject to the judge’s approval.

Della Ratta later confirmed that Tarver claimed that the elderly man hit him first.

Prosecutors dispute Tarver’s account.

But Della Ratta also said that he guilty plea acknowledges that, given that scenario, what Tarver did was still a crime.

“Even if the older person did hit him first, it’s hard to have a justification defense in that factual situation,” Della Ratta said.

William Sanderson, who helped prosecute the case, said the 87-year-old man, a decorated World War II veteran, can hardly raise his arms above his shoulders.

“He’s not physically able to throw a punch that would be anything that could even cause you the slightest aggravation, much less any pain,” Sanderson said. “This is the kind of crime that doesn’t sit well with us here,” Sanderson added later, “a really helpless man being attacked by a young person.”