Dorchester man found guilty of attacking woman who didn’t say “hello”

A Dorchester man has been jailed for two years after he was found guilty of attacking a woman because she didn’t say:Good morning– to him – said the officials.

Ian Atkinson, 34, was found guilty in the Suffolk Supreme Court on Monday of assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He will serve two years in state prison followed by two years of probation, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

Last July, Atkinson was walking past a woman watering plants on Balsam Street in Dorchester when he called out to her and said: “When people say hello to you, you should say hello, crazy (expletive),” the prosecutor said. .

Prosecutors testified that Atkinson then punched her repeatedly in the face and threw her against a fence. He also drove towards her in his black Mercedes and almost hit her.

“For this victim, a pleasant summer morning, for the most inexplicable reasons, turned into a brutal and cruel ordeal,” Hayden said in a statement.

The woman recorded the encounter and Atkinson only stopped attacking her when she bit him. As officers previously reported, the woman managed to write down the license plate number as he drove away.

She was taken to hospital with a broken nose, bruises on her head and face, and bleeding in her left eye.

“Even when she was attacked, she had the presence of mind to record the video, and that decision, along with her brave testimony, provided the judge with sufficient evidence to make a decision,” Hayden said. “I join all members of the community in thanking this survivor for her courage.”

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Molly Farrar is an assignment reporter at Boston.com focusing on education, politics, crime and more.

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