A callous stranger randomly shoved a 76-year-old woman to the ground in a broad daylight attack as she walked through Queens earlier this month, police said.
The attacker approached the victim as he crossed the intersection of 63rd Street and Queens Boulevard in Sunnyside shortly after 2 p.m. on August 6, authorities said.
Then, without warning, he pushed her onto the concrete, suffering injuries to her lower back and right hip, police said.
The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where her condition was stable, police said.
The attacker – seen in surveillance videos released by the NYPD late Monday – is described as a man with a heavy build and light skin.
He was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, a light pink t-shirt and khaki shorts and carrying a white plastic bag.
In an unrelated but equally unprovoked attack last week, a man in the Flatiron District attacked a teenager with a book, police said.
The 18-year-old woman was walking on West 25th Street near Broadway around 9:30 p.m. on August 19 when the stranger hit her in the face with a book, authorities said.
The sudden blow left the victim with pain, bruising and swelling on her nose, police said. She was not taken to hospital.
The attacker took off running east along West 25th Street.
Additionally, footage released Monday evening shows the suspect walking down the street shirtless, with a white T-shirt over his shoulder, a book sticking out of his gray shorts, and white sneakers.
On Tuesday he was still at large.
According to the latest statistics from the NYPD, the number of both serious and minor assaults has increased across the Big Apple this year.
By this time in 2024, a total of 19,229 serious assaults have been reported, according to data covering the period from January 1 to Sunday, compared to 18,316 in the same period in 2023.
By Sunday, 30,990 cases of minor bodily harm had been reported, compared to 28,374 in the same period last year.
Anyone with information about the attacks is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or (for Spanish) 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by visiting the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or by logging on to X @NYPDTips.
