A local TV reporter was attacked Tuesday while interviewing a Queens resident at a public housing complex where Mayor Bill de Blasio was simultaneously holding a press event, authorities said.
WABC’s Tim Fleischer was punched in the right side of the face around 12:45 p.m. in Edgmere while he was conducting interviews with residents at NYCHA’s Ocean Bay Bayside Apartment complex near Beach 56th Street and Beach Channel Road, police and witnesses said.
Fleischer, 54, was speaking to residents a few buildings down from where de Blasio was meeting with press when a resident suddenly punched the news reporter and fled.
“The perp walked up to him and said, ‘Are you guys doing a story?’ and then proceeded to punch him in the jaw,” a police source told The Post.
Fleischer’s cameraman, Rob Cantwell, chased down the 32-year-old attacker and held him for police near Beach 59th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard.
Charges against the 32-year-old man are pending for the unprovoked attack, cops said.
Fleischer was seen clutching his bloodied cheek and walking into an ambulance. He was taken to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, an FDNY spokesman said.
Both Fleischer and Cantwell declined comment.
During a press conference at the complex, the mayor formally announced the resignation of embattled New York City Housing Authority Chairperson Shola Olatoye, who will step down from her post at the end of the month.