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Metro

Maniac punches woman in front of NYC McDonald’s in latest random attack on female pedestrians: cops

By
Marie Pohl,
Amanda Woods and
Allie Griffin
Published April 3, 2024
Updated April 3, 2024, 11:37 p.m. ET

A brute punched a female pedestrian in the face after he stumbled out of a Union Square McDonald’s — as unprovoked attacks on women in the Big Apple surge, cops said.

Ashley Cruz, 23, was walking on Avenue of the Americas near West 14th Street around 10 a.m. March 20 when the attacker stepped out of the fast-food eatery and punched her without warning, cops said.

“Nothing was said” before the man socked her in the face with an open fist, Cruz told The Post Wednesday night at her Bushwick, Brooklyn, home.

“It all happened so fast and I was in shock,” she told The Post of the attack that is forcing her to relearn how to feel safe in the only place she’s called home. 

Cruz had just gotten out of the 14th Street-Sixth Avenue L train station and was on the way to a Pilates instruction class when she was hit as she passed the McDonald’s. 

The attacker senselessly punched a 23-year-old woman in the face after stepping out of a McDonald's near Union Square, cops said.
The attacker senselessly punched a 23-year-old woman in the face after stepping out of a McDonald’s near Union Square, cops said. NYPD

Surveillance video released by the NYPD late Tuesday shows the suspect running off after the attack, heading south on Sixth Avenue.

The still-at-large menace was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, brown pants and blue jacket. 

Cruz said she was still planning to head to class but then realized she was bleeding. 

“I was actually just going to go about my day but I was leaking blood.”

Her sneakers were still covered in her blood from the attack until she cleaned them shortly before the interview.

An Uber Eats delivery worker who noticed she was bleeding helped her into the bathroom of a nearby Taco Bell, where Cruz said she cleaned herself up. 

“In the bathroom, I got myself together. I called 911,” she said. 

An ambulance came and took her to Lenox Health Greenwich Village Hospital, where she was treated for an injury to her nose, police said. 

She suffered a nasal fracture and still has some pain as her nose is “minimally displaced” and still healing. 

Cruz, who is working to get her Pilates instructor certificate, can’t do any positions where she is upside down, she said. 

She also said the noticeable injury on her face left her feeling vulnerable and “exposed.” 

Since the random attack, the young Brooklynite said she’s weary of men who get too close to her on the street or in the subway.

“There is no way that anyone could have avoided that,” she said of the unforeseen punch. “At 10 in the morning. Not even on the train. How do you prevent that in Chelsea?”

Cruz has lived in Bushwick and Bedford Stuyvesant her whole life and has never experienced any violence in either neighborhood. She was surprised that she was attacked in the Manhattan nabe with expensive rents and high-end stores. 

She’s beginning to pick up the pieces since the senseless assault and was grateful to have had tools from therapy to cope with what happened. 

“This is something I have to deal with and eventually feel safe again,” she said. 

She’s also talking to her friends about what happened as the unprovoked assault comes amid a disturbing spate of women being randomly punched while walking in the city.

“Unfortunately, this stuff happens more to women,” Cruz said. “If I were a 6-foot-tall guy, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“There must be a power trip or something there,” she theorized. “Yes, we live in a modern society, but we still practically live in a patriarchy and I realized there is still a lot of work to do. There’s a reason why women are exposed to these things.”

The attacker senselessly punched a 23-year-old woman in the face after stepping out of a McDonald's near Union Square, cops said.
The incident comes amid a recent spate of unprovoked punch attacks on women in the Big Apple. NYPD

Among the recent victims was Halley Kate, an influencer with 1.1 million followers on TikTok, who posted a video last week saying she was assaulted so viciously that she blacked out.

Skiboky Stora, 40, a criminal recidivist with an extensive criminal record, was busted in connection with the sucker-punch, authorities said.

In another random assault last week, 57-year-old Brooklyn school bus aide Dulche Pichardo was randomly slugged by an unhinged man — a brutal attack that broke her jaw and knocked out several teeth — as she walked home from work in Crown Heights, cops said.

Franz Jeudy, 33 — who has a rap sheet of similar sucker-punch attacks and a long history of mental illness — was slapped with misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault, attempted assault and harassment in connection to the attack, according to a criminal complaint.

Despite the victim’s severe injuries, Jeudy was set free by a Brooklyn judge on supervised release because the offenses are not bail-eligible.