Brooklyn man, 79, kicked in head during random unprovoked assault
A 79-year-old man was kicked in the face by a complete stranger during a brazen unprovoked attack on a Brooklyn street, cops said.
Police on Saturday released surveillance images of the kicker, who was wearing a “Ralph Lauren Polo Team” sweatshirt during the Monday night assault.
Victim Saleh Yahya had just bought some food and was walking down Flatbush Ave. near Lincoln Road in Prospect Lefferts Gardens about 10:50 p.m. when the stranger stormed up and attacked him.
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Yahya didn’t remember anything else until he woke up at Kings County Hospital, where he remains on the mend with four broken ribs Saturday.
“I feel bad,” Yahya told WABC Eyewitness News. He declined to speak with the Daily News when reached at the hospital Saturday. “Very bad. I can’t even move.”
Yahya’s attacker ran off after the attack and was still being sought Saturday.
The attack on Yahya was at least the fifth unprovoked assault in the city in the past 10 days, beginning May 8 when homeless man Clifton Williams walloped “Boardwalk Empire” actor Steve Buscemi as he walked along Third Ave. in Kips Bay.
The attack took place around 11:50 a.m. near E. 27th St., cops said. Medics took the “Fargo” actor to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated for bruising, swelling and bleeding to his left eye. Williams was arrested on Friday, charged with assault.
On May 10 in Harlem, a stranger stormed up and struck an 11-year-old girl with a box cutter for no apparent reason, cutting through the child’s long black hair and slashing the back of the pre-teen’s head.
Shaquan Cummings was arrested after Malgorzata Sladek, the child’s outraged mother, and a mob of witnesses cornered Cummings in a doorway near E. 116th St. and Lexington Ave. Several cops saved Cummings from the mob and charged the assailant with assault, endangering the welfare of a child and weapon possession. He was ordered held without bail when he was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Saturday.
The next day, 36-year-old Amber Lohr was knifed in the chest in Times Square as she chaperoned a group of students from western Pennsylvania.
Lohr stumbled backwards from the 6:15 p.m. attack outside the Port Gourmet Deli near W. 43rd St. and Eighth Ave. but managed to protect the children she was watching from any harm.
The accused attacker, Cyril Destin, sat back down and was taken into custody. Destin was hospitalized after his arrest but was ordered held on $50,000 bail.
On Monday, about 12 hours before Yahya was attacked, a 25-year-old acting student was struck in the head with a plastic bag by a stranger in a random attack on Seventh Ave. near W. 23rd St. in Chelsea. The stranger had a heavy object in his bag which left a deep gash on the victim’s head.
Just last month cops investigated a spree of unprovoked attacks on women, some of which were detailed on Tik Tok.
Anyone with information regarding the unprovoked attack is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
