Saturday, September 26, 2015

Slow Saturday Special: Lei Downing

Related: Deadly Push Down in Chinatown

"Woman, 24, indicted in Chinatown death" by Evan Allen Globe Staff  September 25, 2015

A Suffolk County grand jury has indicted a Jamaica Plain woman on a charge that she shoved a 72-year-old woman to the ground in early July in the Chinatown area, an episode that took a tragic turn when the woman died the next day.

Tajanetta Downing, 24, was indicted Thursday on a charge of assault and battery on an elder with serious bodily injury, prosecutors said Friday in a Boston Municipal Court hearing.

Downing allegedly shoved Yuzhen Lei in the area of Essex and Chauncy streets on July 8. Lei died the next day.

In a district court arraignment July 8, Downing pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault and battery and assault and battery on a person 60 or older.

At Friday’s hearing, Downing’s bail was reduced from $75,000 to $10,000, and her medical records were sealed. She is to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Oct. 9.

The hearing Friday was brief. When Downing was led into the courtroom, she smiled and waved to a woman on the back bench. The woman declined to comment as she left the courtroom after the hearing.

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