Why We Carry: Man Dies After 7-Year Coma From Being Randomly Punched On Street, Attacker Spent Just 6 Months In Jail

Domingo Tapia, a father of two, died after spending nearly seven years in a coma, a condition he fell into after being randomly attacked on a New York City street in 2017. Tapia was assaulted while biking home from work in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, leading to a severe skull fracture that necessitated a medically induced coma. At the time of the attack, Tapia was 38 years old, and his sons were aged 5 and 7. The family, devastated by Tapia’s prolonged suffering and eventual death, has struggled with his absence. Tapia’s wife, Esther Diaz, has faced significant hardships, including working overtime to support her children.

The assailant, Gary Anderson, was convicted of misdemeanor assault and served a fraction of his three-year sentence. Following Tapia’s death, his family is seeking to have Anderson charged with murder, highlighting the frustration over a legal loophole in New York that makes it difficult to impose harsher charges for fatal assaults.