By Gus Saltonstall
Hours before an 81-year-old woman was sucker punched on Friday, September 13, on the Upper West Side, a 77-year-old woman was also punched in the face, police said on Wednesday evening.
The 77-year-old woman was walking at about 2 p.m. on West 72nd Street between Columbus and Central Park West, when a man punched her in the left eye, police said. The attacker then fled on West 72nd Street toward Columbus Avenue, police added.
NYPD said that the woman sustained minor injuries but was not hospitalized. Police did not provide any reason for the attack.
NYPD sent out a photo of the suspect.
NYPD did not say it thought the two similar assaults on Friday were connected, and photos of the suspected attacker of the 81-year-old woman, which occurred at around 7 p.m. near West 66th Street, show a clearly different man.
There have not been arrests in either case, and the investigations remains ongoing, police said.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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This has to stop! Put the cops back walking on a beat, actually patrolling the neighborhood. These are hate crimes against elderly women.
While I likely wish a harsher punishment on this person than you do, ideally random, unprovoked, and unexpected assaults like this needn’t be solely escalated based on the age, gender, or race of the victim.
This is what happens when the DA spends limited resources on prosecuting brave New Yorkers like Daniel Penny.
Surely the DA can prosecute both people who assault elderly ladies and people who strangle homeless people to death?
This man confronted me and my family a couple of weekends ago. He pointed a glass bottle inches from my face and ended up throwing it at my wife and two kids (who were across the street). We called the police. I will call the Crime Stoppers number. I’ve since seen him sitting near Patsy’s on W 74th.
Jeez, glad you are okay that’s terrifying
So here’s my question. If I witnessed a similar attack and used my pepper spray to subdue the guy and then call the police, would I get in trouble for pepper spraying the guy given that I myself was not attacked? I feel that citizens who witness these attacks need to step up, but I wonder if we can get in trouble.
Get this POS off the street permanently. I know the NYPD will find him. I am so mad this is happening. Can you imagine now we’re afraid to leave our homes. The patients are running the Asylum
what a lowlife you have to be to punch a 81-year old woman. but give it a few more days and we’ll catch both of these guys
What has made some of us so angry that we must punch innocent women in the head? This is what happens in child abuse. Something is going on.
This is a criminal act pure and simple.
Criminals thrive on the apathy and acceptance of this behavior.
This guy has been all over the neighborhood lately. I was saddened to see him eating out of the garbage boxes outside La Boite en Bois last week. That same week, he was behaving erratically enough to get the attention of passersby as he went through a garbage can at Broadway and ~75th. The guy who punched the 81-year-old woman who was walking a dog appeared to be talking to himself. Head on a swivel, obviously. Take all concerns to the 24th precinct: https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/24th-precinct.page