According to a police officer and family, Barbara Maier Gustern, who was knocked to the ground near her Manhattan apartment building on Thursday, died of her injuries on Tuesday morning.
According to authorities and relatives, an 87-year-old singing coach suffered a catastrophic brain injury after a woman slammed her to the ground just steps away from her Manhattan apartment building on Thursday night.
Barbara Maier Gustern, who had tutored Debbie Harry and the cast of the Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!” in 2019, was assaulted from behind and hit her head on the pavement shortly after leaving her house on West 28th Street in Chelsea at around 9:30 p.m., according to the police.
Friends who had been practicing for a cabaret concert at Ms. Gustern’s apartment recounted finding her covered in blood when they opened the lobby door. She was guided to the building by a bicyclist who had observed the attack, and emergency medical personnel were dispatched.
Ms. Gustern told her friend and colleague, Barbara Bleier, “I’ve never been hit so hard in my life,” as she lay in her lap with a cut on the top of her skull. Ms. Gustern described her attacker to the authorities, saying the lady yelled a disparaging word before hitting her.
Ms. Gustern’s condition immediately deteriorated after the attack.