Yet another woman in New York City has reported being randomly attacked in the street, following a trendline of seemingly isolated incidents of violence in the Big Apple.
A police investigation is underway after the 23-year-old woman reported she was punched in the face around 10 a.m. on March 20 as she walked past a McDonald’s on 6th Avenue in Chelsea.
She was inspected by medical professionals for a nose injury and filed a report with authorities the same day.
The suspect, a man wearing dark pants, a light T-shirt and what appears to be a light blue overcoat or unbuttoned shirt, was caught on surveillance camera running away after the attack.
This week, police released surveillance footage showing the suspect, who is still being sought.
The latest incident of violence comes after several women reported random acts of violence against them while in New York.
Half a dozen have posted about their experiences on TikTok, but not the woman in Chelsea.
This week, police released surveillance footage showing the suspect, who is still being sought
Last week, two suspects were arrested for separate attacks after a small handful of women came forward about their violent interactions with the men on the streets of New York City.
TikTok influencer Halley McGookin, who goes by “Halley Kate,” posted a tearful video about the attack she suffered on March 25, when a random man punched her on the sidewalk near West 16th Street and 7th Avenue.
Millions of people saw and responded to McGookin’s posts about the attack, prompting police to eventually arrest 40-year-old Skiboy Stora, who was held on $10,000 bail ahead of his arraignment last week.
When the suspect was shown surveillance footage, he said, “Yes, it’s me walking my dog.”
Stora himself has several TikTok accounts that show him aggressively approaching strangers, many of whom are women, some of whom are police.
Stora was arrested last Wednesday, his third arrest in six months, although he is somehow allowed to continue roaming the streets.
A close-up of the suspect who punched the 23-year-old in Chelsea. Police have yet to arrest him, but he is described as having a medium build and medium complexion
New York police said Stora was arrested last Wednesday and charged with assault, making it his third arrest in the past six months
Mallikah Miah, 30, was also arrested in Greenwich Village last week and charged with assault.
He is accused of punching 27-year-old Mikayla Toninato in the face last Monday around 2 p.m. as she left a building on Fifth Avenue.
In a video on her TikTok account, Toninato said a man appeared “out of nowhere” and “slapped me in the face.”
Miah has been charged with assault, which is not bailable in New York City. So he was released. He has no data linking him to other attacks.
A large handful of other women have also recently come forward to discuss their stories about the New York attacks.
Karina Dunford, a model, said she was beaten in broad daylight in Chelsea last Tuesday.
‘My head continued to hurt until the police arrived, but the emotional toll was honestly quite terrifying. “I was just shaking and not worried much,” she said.
The attack happened around 12:45 p.m. in front of 717 Avenue of the Americas.
The unknown man approached the 24-year-old and struck her in the head with a closed fist before fleeing.
The victim refused medical attention.
The suspect, who has not been arrested by police, is described as a dark-skinned man, approximately 35 years old, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds and a medium build. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, a black hooded sweatshirt, light jeans and white and orange sneakers.
Bethenny Frankel says she was randomly beaten in New York City a few months ago; The reality star, 53, made the confession in the comments section of a Tik Toker who said she was randomly punched in New York City
According to Page Six, more than 25 women on TikTok have revealed that they have been randomly attacked in New York City in recent months.
Former Real Housewife of New York and current entrepreneur and online presence Bethenny Frankel wrote in the comments section of Mikayla Toninato’s TikTok video that she too had been randomly attacked in New York in recent months.
‘This is crazy because this happened to me a few months ago but I was ashamed to say it. I was on the UWS (Upper West Side). I made a video of a bakery,” she wrote in the comments section via Page sixwhich she has since deleted.
The growing number of random punching attacks in New York City may be part of a disturbing trend called the knockout game, in which strangers punch random strangers in New York City with the intention of “knocking them unconscious.”
The violent game began in 1992 after Yngv Raustein, an MIT student, was attacked by a group of local teenagers in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Yngve was attacked and beaten by the teenagers, who then stabbed him; he succumbed to his injuries.
The criminal teens told prosecutors at the time that their goal was to “put a stranger to the ground” with just one punch.
