Mugshot of Yoshiri Rivera. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. THOMAS — The woman accused of stamping on an elderly man as she and her boyfriend assaulted him outside a bar is now before the courts.
Yoshiri Rivera was identified as the woman in the surveillance footage obtained by police of the inside of a club. That footage purports to show Riviera and her boyfriend Richard Lazarus entering the establishment together, searching it for what the owner said was a lost bracelet belonging to Lazarus, and eventually leaving. Rivera was identified as the woman having a contentious interaction with the man who would later accuse her of assault.
Less than twenty minutes after Riviera and Lazarus left the bar for the final time, the 911 Emergency Call Center notified police of an unresponsive male outside the same location.
The police had earlier become aware of a video circulating on social media in which Riviera could reportedly be seen attacking the man who had been in the club earlier, punching him in the face and stamping on him as he lay on the ground. Her boyfriend, Lazarus, was reportedly captured in the video beating the older man with a chain.
According to court documents, the assault was so brutal that ten days after the incident, an investigating officer noted that the man’s injuries were very apparent, “as if the incident had just occurred.” The veteran said he had a footprint on his right side, near his ribs. The gashes in the print suggested that at least one of his assailants had been wearing cleats. He also had extensive stitching done to the inside and outside of his cheek. He received two stitches near the inner corner of his right eye, and the eye itself was filled with blood.
When Lazarus was arrested last week, he expressed confidence that Riviera would be turning herself in soon. After an initial missed appointment the day prior, on May 8 she did indeed present herself at the police station where she was arrested and charged with first-degree assault with the intent to commit murder.
Yoshiri Rivera’s advice of rights hearing was scheduled for Wednesday May 10, however as of press time there has not been an update on the outcome.
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