The elderly owner of a famous candy shop in New York City was violently assaulted right outside of his store, once again bringing light to the massive crime crisis plaguing the city.

According to WNBC, on Tuesday, 90-year-old Ray Alvarez, who owns the iconic Ray's Candy Store, was brutally beaten while walking outside his store at 3 a.m.

Alvarez says that a man approached him asking him if he wanted seltzer water. After Alvarez politely declined, the man whacked him on the head with a belt with a heavy rock on the end.

"Then he told his friend, 'Hold this I want to kill this guy,'" Alvarez said. "He surprised me and I thought the end of the world, I hit the ground, saw the blood and I thought this looks like the end."

Indeed, the suspect ultimately opted to run down the street, leaving a bleeding and injured Alvarez for dead.

Alvarez is a well-known figure in the neighborhood and many of his employees and neighbors were shocked that someone would attack this beloved community icon.

🎥And @NewYorkNico was on hand to give Ray his due at the unveilng! THANK YOU!👏

🎂And then there was cake, and balloons, and fun hats! 🥳

GOD BLESS AMERICA! GOD BLESS NYC!! GOD BLESS RAY!!!

We're celebrating Our Man Ray all month long! Pop by anytime to see the Birthday Boy! pic.twitter.com/LuXcRSyrqN

— Ray's Candy Store (@RaysCandyStore) January 4, 2023

"Ray is everyone's grandpa. People who don't have family around, Ray takes care of everyone," said employee Gabe Thorne. "The fact that this happened makes everyone super upset."

In fact, Alvarez initially did not want to press charges against his assailant, but the people in the community were so outraged that they convinced him to report the attack to the police.

Despite the brutal beating, Alvarez was determined to not stop working. A few hours later, he was back at the counter serving customers.

According to the New York Post, however, he says that something does indeed need to be done about the crime wave sweeping through the city.

“If somebody comes with a bag and takes all this, I have no right to touch that bag. They have more rights than I have,” he complained.

Joe Ali, who runs a nearby deli, told the Post, "It is not good. Defunding the police and all this kind of s*** leads to this. It’s ridiculous.”

Ali is exactly right. These are the unavoidable consequences of the insane "defund the police" policies that the far left has been pushing for the last few years. It really is time that this was changed.

In fact, many of the most vocal proponents of the "defund the police" movement have realized what a drastic mistake it was and are now reversing that decision.

New York has been hit especially hard by the crime wave that is now plaguing American cities. In 2019, New York implemented soft-on-crime policies such as cashless bail that allowed several dangerous criminals out onto the street.

Indeed, it is no wonder that in the recent midterm elections, the Republican Lee Zeldin put up a massive fight against the Democrat incumbent Kathy Hochul, as he promised to solve New York's crime problems.

The fact of the matter is that crime in American cities has completely spun out of control, especially in Democrat-run cities, and the Democrats are doing absolutely nothing about it.

This has even gotten to the point where elderly community icons like Ray Alvarez are being senselessly attacked by thugs.

The Democrats implement these policies in the name of "compassion", but exactly to whom these policies are compassionate remains a question. Certainly, they are not compassionate to Ray Alvarez and the millions of other victims of this crime wave.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.