The “socialite shover” jailed for pushing n beloved elderly voice coach to the sidewalk, leading to her death five days later, is again seeking bail, just days after a Manhattan judge revoked her original bail.
Lauren Pazienza, a 26-year-old “events organizer,” is being held at Rikers Island as she awaits trial on manslaughter and assault charges in the death of Barbara Maier Gustern, 87.
She was initially released on a $500,000 bond, paid by her mother, before a judge tossed her back into jail on May 10, saying she was a “serious flight risk.”
Pazienza’s attorneys said in their latest court filing that the judge should have considered home confinement, treatment programs, or electronic monitoring before unceremoniously sending her back to jail. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Tuesday, the New York Post reported.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Pazienza and her fiance had been out drinking wine, celebrating their upcoming wedding, on March 10. The couple were at Chelsea Park, a block away from Gustern’s residence, having a meal they’d bought from a food truck when a park employee told them they had to leave because the greenspace was closing, the New York Daily News reported.
Prosecutors said at the bond hearing on May 10 that Pazienza didn’t take it well.
“The defendant became angry, started shouting and cursing at the park employee, threw her food onto her fiancé, and stormed out of the park,” the prosecutor said.
She stormed off and encountered Gustern, a voice coach whose clients included Blondie’s Debbie Harry. She called Gustern a “b**** and pushed her as hard as Ms. Gustern had ever been hit in her life,” Assistant District Attorney Justin McNabney told the court.
Gustern was able to give a friend an account of the shove before she lapsed into a coma, dying five days later.
Pazienza, meanwhile, reportedly watched from a hidden location as an ambulance took Gustern to a hospital, then fled to the home of her parents on Long Island and began deleting her social media presence.
Investigators zeroed in on her as a suspect, and on March 21, went to the Long Island home, but Pazienza’s father, cesspool magnate Dan Pazienza, reportedly told them she wasn’t there.
The next day, after police publicly identified her as the suspect and released surveillance footage showing her near the scene, she turned herself in.
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[Featured image: Lauren Pazienza/Instagram]
