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The 14-year-old Collingswood youth is now facing upgraded criminal charges after the elderly man he assaulted died one week after the incident, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer and Collingswood Police Chief Kevin Carey.
Police were called to the 500 block of Newton Lake Drive about 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 on a report of an elderly man needing medical help, Mayer and Carey said.
The man was taken to an area hospital where his condition worsened until he died from his injuries on Thursday evening, they said.
While watching surveillance footage, detectives saw that the victim, identified as Anthony Donofrio, 95, of Collingswood, was punched and pushed down to the ground by a youth in the lobby of his apartment building, they said.
Detectives said video showed Donofrio amidst a group of teens playing in the apartment building's lobby. As Donofrio walked away, one of the teens is captured on camera running toward him, punching him in the side of the head and shoving him to the ground, Mayer and Carey said.
On Friday, a medical examiner concluded Donofrio’s cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide.
Detectives identified the teen, who was initially charged with one count of second-degree aggravated assault and one count of fourth-degree endangering another person, Mayer and Carey said.
The teen now faces upgraded criminal charges because Donofrio died, they said.
The 14-year-old is being held in a juvenile facility.
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