NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Lauren Pazienza, the 26-year-old woman facing manslaughter and assault charges in the fatal shoving of an 87-year-old voice coach in Manhattan last month, was reportedly sprung from Rikers Island after her mom wrote a check for $500,000 to bail her out.
Pazienza spent three days at Rikers before she made bail last Friday thanks to the check from her mom’s personal Apple Bank account, the New York Post reported Thursday, citing a bail receipt obtained from state court officials.
Pazienza’s dad is the owner of a lucrative cesspool service on Long Island, while her mom reportedly listed her occupation as “personal trainer” on the bail receipt.
Prosecutors believe Pazienza is the woman who shoved beloved voice coach Barbara Maier Gustern at W. 28th Street and Eighth Avenue in Chelsea on March 10.
Pazienza allegedly crossed a street, called Gustern a “b****” and pushed her to the ground, causing her to hit her head. She suffered brain injuries and died at a hospital five days later on March 15.
Prosecutors allege Pazienza tried to avoid being captured by deleting her social media accounts and wedding registry and fleeing to her parents' home in Suffolk County on March 16.
Police initially went to her family’s home in Port Jefferson but got no cooperation. Pazienza, who lived in Astoria, turned herself in the following day to the NYPD and was charged.
Her attorney Arthur Aidala, who has represented the likes of Harvey Weinstein, told a judge in court last month that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is “overcharging” his client.
“The D.A. goes out of their way to undercharge a case, and in this particular case they’re overcharging,” Aidala said in an apparent reference to the controversial progressive policies by new Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg.
Aidala said his client was stressed out and is a good person.
“She was crying. You know, she’s being accused of a horrible act,” he said. “And she’s a very moral, right, just person who went to high school, went to college, has a job, has a fiancé, has a family.”
Pazienza is due back in court on April 25.
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