Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz today announced that David Mangaran, 20, has been indicted by a Queens County grand jury and arraigned in Supreme Court on assault and criminally negligent homicide charges. The defendant allegedly threw an elderly golf course  employee to the ground at the Forest Park Golf Course in September 2020. The 79-year-old victim died as a result of being thrown to the ground.

District Attorney Katz said, “Physical violence is never the appropriate response during a confrontation. The victim was a senior citizen, whose life was tragically cut short due to the alleged actions of this defendant. The young man charged in this case will be brought to justice in our Courts.”

Mangaran, of Penn Street in Allentown, Penn., was arraigned yesterday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino on a three-count indictment charging the defendant with two counts of assault in the second  degree and criminally negligent homicide. Justice Cimino set the defendant’s return date for December 21, 2021. If convicted, Mangaran faces up to seven years in prison.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to the charges, around 3 p.m. on September 8, 2020, the defendant was on a bicycle on the grounds of the Forest Park Golf Course when William Hinchey approached in a golf cart to address the defendant being on the property. Moments later, the defendant allegedly grabbed the elderly man forcefully pulling him from the cart and dragging him across the pavement and then threw him to the ground.

Continuing, according to the charges, the victim was taken to a nearby hospital with a fractured femur. Mr. Hinchey died three days later as a result of the violent actions described above.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas Salmon, of the District Attorney’s Career Criminal Major Crimes Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Shawn Clark, Bureau Chief, Michael Whitney, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel Saunders.