A random attacker punched an Asian woman on a Chinatown sidewalk Monday evening, stunning bystanders and a pair of witnesses eating dinner at an outdoor restaurant.
The attacker, who’s in police custody, walloped the 55-year-old woman in the head as she walked by him on Bayard St. near Mott St. at about 6:15 p.m.
Surveillance footage captured the sudden assault.
“What’d you hit me for?” the attacker said after bashing the woman as he pointed down the sidewalk. “Why’d you hit me?”
The victim staggered backward after the blow, hand to her nose, then sank to the pavement outside Kong Sihk Tong, a Hong Kong-style fast-food restaurant.
“Some customers were calling for help. They said a guy punched a woman. She was sitting there on the sidewalk like she was tired, like she was out,” said Chiu Cheng, 24, the restaurant manager said. “Some people were trying to help her.”
Several onlookers followed the suspect around the block, where police arrested him.
“He was crazy. I know it’s serious. I feel sad about it. With all that’s happening, I feel scared. I work at the restaurant late. I’m afraid about walking to the subway at night,” Cheng said, referring to the spike in anti-Asian crimes this year.
It’s not clear if the attack is being investigated as a hate crime.
Another video posted on Instagram shows the suspect trying to convince officers that he was struck.
“He was trying to play it off like he was hit, like he was the victim, not the perp,” said Donald Ng, 44, who works at a restaurant nearby.
State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou posted video of the attack on Twitter Monday night.
“This was just sent to me from my constituent. This just happened in my district in Chinatown. He has been arrested and our precinct is investigating,” she tweeted. “She is conscious and cognizant and alert. Things are being investigated and the hate crimes task force has been called in.”
The suspect was taken to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, police said. Charges against him are pending.
Medics took the victim to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Lower Manhattan in stable condition, cops said.
The victim was walking home from work, a police source said.
“She’s in good spirits because he was caught. There’s no bone damage, no soft tissue damage, but we don’t know about a concussion yet. That has to be monitored,” the source said.
As for the attacker, the source said, “He’s homeless, and he has a long criminal record.”
