A 23-year-old brute was busted in the ruthless, unprovoked attack on a partially blind 66-year-old grandma – and has also been linked to random assaults on two other women just minutes earlier, authorities said Friday.
Damally Cain was arrested around 9 a.m. Thursday and charged with second-degree felony assault and third-degree misdemeanor assault in the broad-daylight attack on retired school bus worker Aida Mercado, cops said.
Cain allegedly attacked Mercado shortly before 5 p.m. on Aug. 18 by the intersection of 40th Street and Hubbard Place in Flatlands as she walked to a pal’s birthday celebration with another friend.
The assailant, dressed in all black, yelled something indecipherable before knocking Mercado to the ground and throwing a barrage of punches at her head and face, the victim recalled.
Mercado told The Post in an exclusive phone interview Thursday she wept out of “relief” when detectives called and informed her family of Cain’s arrest.
“They got the guy,” Mercado said. “That’s a blessing, you know. Oh boy, it’s a relief. Oh my God, I started crying. I was happy inside, but then I started crying at the same time. I’m very happy that at least they got somebody. Hopefully, this guy is going to get justice.”
Just before he allegedly came after Mercado, the menace randomly targeted two other women, yanking each of them by the hair in separate attacks, police said.
He allegedly grabbed a 52-year-old woman’s hair and pulled her to the ground on Flatbush Avenue near Avenue H at around 4:30 p.m., authorities said.
Then at 4:40 p.m., he is accused of grabbing a 35-year-old woman’s hair on Flatbush Avenue near Avenue I, punching her in the face and snatching her wallet, cops said.
“We don’t know how many people he hurt like that,” Mercado said.
“People like that don’t belong in the street,” she added. “They don’t belong out there.”
Cain had no other arrests on his record prior to the rampage, authorities said — but he did suffer from mental health issues, according to the case manager at the Brooklyn’s homeless shelter where Cain lives.
“There’s some mental issues there. As far as I know, depression or schizophrenia,” Abraham Myrick, 36, told The Post Friday. “We were working on getting him a psych evaluation. He saw his own problems and he was trying to get help.”
The alleged attacker had been living at the men’s shelter on 94th Street since June and was making personal strides in his mental health until recently, said Myrick.
According to Myrick, Flatbush Junction was Cain’s “hangout spot” and an area where he spent time with friends.
When asked if he thought Cain was having a schizophrenic episode during the trio of attacks, Myrick said, “He was definitely not on point. You could tell he wasn’t taking his meds. You could tell it was getting worse.”
Cain was arraigned Thursday night in Brooklyn Criminal Court and ordered held on $150,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond by Judge Jung A. Park.
Prosecutors had requested $15,000 cash bail or $30,000 bond.
Though her alleged attacker was busted, Mercado said it will be a long time before she feels confident walking alone outside again.
“It’s going to take a while for me to walk by myself like I used to do — do my errands,” Mercado said. “I’m afraid to walk by myself. I need to have company with me…I like to go out and have lunch or whatever. It’s going to take me a while. It’s not easy.”
Mercado’s son Angel Colon, 48, said the past few days have been particularly “stressful” for his family, and that the broad-daylight attack left his mother seriously traumatized.
Mercado, who is partially blind and already suffered from anxiety, hasn’t slept since the attack, he said.
Colon said he now hopes his mother “can move on and live a normal life.”
“Hopefully she gets over this — she might need therapy, who knows,” he said. “For him to attack her like that, partially blind, and old, and unable to defend herself — he must be a coward. Talking about it makes me mad, bro. It really upsets me. It really pisses me off.”
Mercado said she suspects police were able to track the suspect down because he left a slew of evidence at the crime scene – his own wallet, passport, keys, glasses, and a bracelet.
“He dropped everything with the commotion that was going on…So I think that helped [police] a lot. He left his passport, his wallet, the bracelet, and the glasses…It wasn’t very smart. Who carries a passport?” she said.
Mercado’s friend’s nephew – who rescued her from the deranged attacker – collected what he thought were her personal items from the scene while medics treated her, the victim recalled.
The Brooklyn grandma said she got the chills once she realized the items weren’t hers.
“I said those don’t belong to me,” Mercado recalled. “It was the guy’s stuff.”
The family said they turned the belongings over to detectives earlier this week.
An NYPD spokesperson was unable to confirm that the recovered items belonged to Cain or led to the arrest – citing the “ongoing case.”
Mercado’s son called on his mom’s attacker to “be locked up for the longest time.”
“That’s what justice is for us. Keep him locked up. He needs to pay for what he did,” an irate Colon said. “Not only did it affect her, it affected our whole family, friends, and colleagues. My mom is well-loved by a lot of people.”
Myrick, however, expressed hope that Cain would be sentenced to mental health treatment, emphasizing that mental illness, depression and anger become exacerbated behind bars.
