By Gus Saltonstall
A woman walking her dog on the Upper West Side at the end of last week was sucker punched in the head and knocked unconscious, according to police and multiple reports.
The 81-year-old woman was walking at around 7 p.m. on Friday near West 66th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, when a man who had initially walked by her, suddenly turned around and threw a punch directly into the women’s head, police said and FOX 5 reported.
The woman was knocked unconscious, after also hitting her head on the cement, police said.
She was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital in stable condition, NYPD added.
“I have amnesia, I don’t even remember what had happened,” the woman told the New York Post on Tuesday. “Except that I have the face and body (bruises) to feel that.”
“But at least I’m now looking to see who’s coming toward me and not to be too close to people and like in the last two days when I see people a little bit off, I just really make sure I’m a little bit far from them so I’m very vigilant,” she added to the publication.
NYPD did not provide West Side Rag with a description or photo of the suspect, but FOX 5 was able to get a photo of the attacker through a camera on the block. You can see those photos for yourself — HERE.
There have been no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing, police said.
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If Bragg et al. don’t charge this POS (person of suspicion, for the sensitive souls) with attempted first-degree murder and throw everything at convicting him, they have no credibility left whatsoever.
First-degree murder is misinformed. Glad the lady is okay, but histrionics like this serves no purpose.
They’ve had no credibility for enforcing laws since taking office and I don’t see that changing. They are who they are. Unfortunately they were elected.
What on earth. Glad she seems to be doing ok. That sadly is by the Projects
Inaccurate and prejudiced comments never help: This is a wealthy residential/commercial block just north of Lincoln Center. You can see the nice doorman apartment building and the church across the street in the video. The Juilliard bookstore is further up the block, with a Gourmet Garage in between. A block down Amsterdam are a firehouse and public library, the MLK High School complex, LaGuardia High School, Are you suggesting that the attacker is from the Amsterdam houses a few blocks south, where many longtime neighborhood residents (and at least one wonderful contributor to this paper) live? Why? He could have been anyone coming out of the subway at 66th and Broadway. This was a shocking attack, and the victim is correct, the attacker is a troubled human being, wherever he is from. We can all home he doesn’t hurt more people. She is lucky, as she said.
The building where this occurred is a doorman building. You can see in the video the doorman running to aid her. I don’t think if she had been attacked in Lincoln Center we’d be seeing these comments about proximity to Amsterdam Houses when in fact Lincoln Center is in between where this attack took place and the Amsterdam Houses.
In Mayor Bait and Switch’s NYC, Elderly women are sucker punched.
What an absolute POS. That entire area by Amsterdam Houses is unfortunately a nightmare.
This wasn’t by Amsterdam houses, this was by Julliard. Please get your geography correct. See response from Marnie L above. Why do you have to automatically blame all crime, on the fact that the Amsterdam housing complex exists? I live near it and nice, decent people live there. Yes, things have happened in the past but not all crime in the UWS have to be blamed on them. What really is going on is a mental health epidemic. Tons of people that don’t live in this neighborhood transit the Lincoln Center area and Riverside park, they transit through 64th to 66th street. I have seen a lot of people with clear mental issues just wondering around in this area and all around the city. It’s sad that this is happening in our neighborhood and I’m glad the 81-year old lady is okay.
Two things can be true simultaneously. Nice decent people (have to) live in those complexes. And crime is clustered around them too, because a disproportionate number of criminals and would-be criminals live there as well. There was a recent map here of gun shootings on the UWS. The proximity / correlation with NYCHA complexes was astounding (and entirely unsurprising).
We can never begin to solve problems if we can’t even acknowledge basic facts, for some misguided sense of political correctness.
There’s nothing wrong with identifying the obvious fact that a lot of public safety issues exist in and around that complex. Relax yourself.
I’m glad she looks mostly okay in the picture and has no memory of the attack. She even took the time to apply lipstick for the photo.
The suspect in the Fox photo doesn’t look like he’s from the nearby “projects”, let’s not jump to conclusions. He has a unique appearance that should ease the identification process.
“She even took the time to apply lipstick for the photo.”
I don’t see why being sucker punched in the head and left with bruises should make her disinclined to regard her appearance while being interviewed and photographed by the media, so while you’re at it, why not mention that she “even” took the time to put on a necklace and a nice blouse? Just because she takes pride in her appearance and presents herself well doesn’t lessen the severity of the incident. Pointing it out says a lot about you, though.
Always with the cheap politics, Peter. and Sue. Oy. Of course this guy should go away. I assume you didn’t bother to watch the news clip. The victim says she doesn’t want the perp to go to jail. Rather she wants him to get treatment. Personally, based on what I saw I don’t want this guy anywhere near civilized society, ever. But if she refuses to press charges it’s going to be awfully hard to make a case. I wish people would stop using every violent crime as an opportunity to attack our elected officials and our neighbors who voted for them. It’s misguided at best and disingenuous and cynical at worst.
@Jon, do we need her to “press charges”? I don’t understand how this works. The video shows the assault. The victim has no memory of the crime and couldn’t be wouldn’t be a witness. She just knows she was walking the dog and then later was in her sister’s apartment. Couldn’t the police say they see a crime occurring on the video and arrest the person (if they find out his identity).
A victim does not “press charges.” Charges are brought by the DAs office. If the prosecutor thinks he, or she can has enough probable cause to continue with the prosecution ( in this case, the video) and they prove the case without the victim’s testimony then they have the discretion to go forward with the case. It is not uncommon for the DA to prosecute alleged domestic violence suspects without a cooperating witness.
In many cases, a cooperating witness/victim is critical to the prosecution and, if the witness/victim is unwilling to cooperate, the prosecutor may decline to bring that case.
Very well said, @Jon UWS Native.
“I want the guy to go away, [for] ever.”
“Cheap politics. Disingenuous and cynical”
Which is it? And if the law enforcement community can’t accomplish the former, are you happy with them, politically speaking, in a genuine and non-cynical way?
The awfully hard cases that serve societal needs are exactly why they’re in the positions they are in, getting paid from our pockets.
And of course I watched the clip – and was left speechless.
We need more cameras and cops on the UWS. Also please describe the assailants full descriptions.
if you click on the links to either Fox 5 of the NY Post in the article you’ll see the pictures of the assailant. As they say that’s worth a thousand words.
What kind of a cowardly POS sucker punches an 81-year-old woman? – or anyone for that matter? The victim may not want him arrested, but I want him arrested, incarcerated for a very long time, and shipped far out of NYC, where he doesn’t belong. Let him rot in Sing Sing for a few decades. Unfortunately, assault carries a light sentence, so my hope is that someone else in prison, who has an 81-year-old mother, ensures that mother nature take its course with prison justice. Many a person sucker punched has died from the injuries.
This poor woman. I hope they catch the monster who did this to her. She’s wearing a Star of David in the interview; I wonder if this attack was a hate crime?
Astute observation on your part. Thanks for adding the info.
@Jon UWS Native thank you for calling this out. What jumps out immediately as disturbing is that people want to comment in a way that supports division rather than relative to the specific story. The whole point of publications like WSR is local stories, not diminishing them to more political bait. That the latter is someone’s knee-jerk, top priority over their humanity is troubling.
This is a criminal act pure and simple.
Criminals thrive on the understanding and sympathy of society,
Trying to not be inflamatory nor divisive,
She’s wearing Star of David and hamsa necklaces. I wonder if this was another example of Anti-Semitism in our neighborhood.
Very glad that she appears to be recovering well, both physically and emotionally.
this something my wife, the same age, constantly fears.
what happened to her dog?
There’s a lot of hate and anger walking around out there, we all need to watch our backs.
@Duh,
She’s going on with her life, even before all her injuries heal.
It’s much better than speculating what might or might not be the intentions of random people in the streets, or fighting with total strangers on the Internet or X.
Yes, I do agree what we express says more about us than anything to do with h the truth, Duh!
Asking for him to not go to jail is just going to lead to him being back out on the streets to assault someone else, while the overworked person assigned to his case *urges* him to take his psychiatric meds (and to not hit anyone else).
I got assaulted by a violent mentally-ill woman who had a history of attacking people, and she only started taking her meds when she was finally forced to in jail – after I agreed to press charges.
Your kindness to criminals is cruelty to your neighbors.
What a powerful statement your last sentence makes! (I am not particularizing it to this specific situation, but regarding it as a general truism.) I wonder how many of us make that connection? Something to think about.
https://www.oe-legaldefense.com/what-happens-if-a-victim-refuses-to-testify-in-new-york-are-charges-dropped/#:~:text=Prosecutors%20have%20discretion%20in%20deciding,conviction%20without%20the%20victim's%20testimony.
She doesn’t have to play victim if she decides if she doesn’t want to. It is also my contention that anyone in their 80s is excused from their civil duties if they choose to. I would include jury duty and running for the presidency of the USA.
Why haven’t the NYPD posted a photo of him yet? Fox did it, why couldn’t they? She’s an incredibly strong lady with an optimistic view.
Who needs horror movies when you have a monster like this roaming the UWS?
Extremely upsetting story. I’m glad that this woman is up and walking. Her facial and body bruises will heal in time. They need to catch this man, pronto.
I am judging him on the content of his character.
Lived in Manhattan a lifetime and never seen before these kinds of violent acts where robbery is not the main motive but cruelty is. My take is that NY has adopted a strange attitude toward all sorts of lawlessness toward the mentally ill and others. A tolerance that no one I know agrees with! Whether it’s absolutely lawless e-bike or Citibike riders or stealing as much as you can from drug stores or bodegas, or punching women I cannot help but ask the question-where are the police??? They are absent from the scenes of all these crimes. Not because of Alvin Bragg! But because someone has told them not to bother! All the usual reasons don’t hold water. Someone has told them to stand down. Until that changes sadly this menacing and violent behavior will continue. We should demand better!