A repeat offender heartlessly punched a disabled man on a Ridgefield Park street and took the 75 cents he’d been carrying for bus fare, authorities said.
Joshua Bendewald, 30, approached the victim near the corner of Main Street and Grand Avenue and “asked him how much money he had” around 11 a.m. Saturday, June 1, Ridgefield Park Police Lt. Justin Tress said.
The 64-year-old victim said he had only the 75-cent bus fare he held in his hand, which the robber took, the lieutenant said.
When the victim said he didn’t have any more, Tress said, Bendewald punched him in the face, knocking the man down and leaving him with facial and knee injuries.
He then snatched the victim’s hat and fled, the lieutenant said.
Twenty minutes earlier, Tress said, Bendewald headbutted a 70-year-old man who questioned his presence in an apartment building where he didn’t live.
Bendewald also pushed that man into a wall, the lieutenant said.
Both victims refused hospitalization, he said.
Meanwhile, Teaneck police responding to an area-wide alert seized Bendewald on Cedar Lane near Garrison Avenue a couple miles from the robbery scene.
Bendewald — whose criminal history stretches back more than a decade — was taken for a psychological evaluation to Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, where he spit at a village detective, Tress said.
He was later transferred to the Bergen County Jail, where he remained on Monday. Charges include robbery, assault and illegal weapons possession.
An additional aggravated assault charge was being prepared in connection with the spitting incident, the lieutenant said.
