On March 10, prosecutors allege, a 26-year-old woman named Lauren Pazienza, of Port Jefferson, New York, quickly shoved Barbara Maier Gustern, 87, to the ground on West 23rd Street in Manhattan and then took off as the older woman lay bleeding on the sidewalk.
Gustern, a renowned Broadway vocal coach on her way to watch one of her students, died of the needless injuries. Pazienza, whom prosecutors allege had just argued with her boyfriend and was upset, then allegedly deleted her social media, turned off her phone and tried to go on the lam at her parents’ home.
Alas for Pazienza, cameras in the area of the incident picked out her face and she was recognized. And, on March 25, she appeared in court, charged with manslaughter. One day later, Gustern’s friends and former students filled a New York church and agonized over her death.
