Assault Causes Detached Retina, Victim Says

A Cedarhurst man was arrested on Jan. 17 after he allegedly attacked a woman at the Hewlett Long Island Rail Road parking lot weeks before, causing her retina to become detached, according to the victim and police.

Mark Hecht, 57, was charged with two counts of criminal mischief in the third degree (felonies) and assault in the third degree. He’s due in court on Feb. 1.

The attack occurred on Jan. 6 at 7:15 a.m., when the victim, Janice Eng, of Woodmere, said she was pulling into a parking spot that was unoccupied — that’s when Hecht allegedly started banging on the car and accused Eng of almost hitting him. He then apparently tried to scold Eng with a hot cup of coffee, she said, and when he missed, he became more irritated.

Hecht then allegedly lunged at Eng.

“He ripped the glasses off my face and stamped them to death,” she said. “In the process of grabbing them, he hit me.”

The force of the blow caused Eng's retina to become detached, which required surgery. Eng said she still has vision problems.

Eng said that Hecht towers over her at about a foot taller and more than 100 pounds her weight.

“When he was in my car, I knew I couldn’t defend myself,” she said. “Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen.”

A Good Samaritan came by and Hecht fled, Eng said.

Eng didn’t call police for a few days to file a report, she said. On Jan. 17, she saw Hecht on the train and called police. Eng said MTA police did a sweep of the train and arrested Hecht, who was given over to Nassau police after Eng identified him.

“Someone like that should not get away with what he did to me,” Eng said.

Hecht could not be reached for comment.