Shocking security camera footage shows the moment when a man tosses a scalding liquid over an unsuspecting victim in Midtown Manhattan causing second-degree burns, in the latest unprovoked attack in New York City.
In footage released by cops, the victim, a 57-year-old man, can be seen walking on the sidewalk near the corner of West 47 Street and 6 Avenue at 10.01pm on July 5.
Suddenly, the attacker, who is shirtless and wearing black shorts, runs up and tosses a cup of unknown liquid on the back of the victim’s head before running away.
Surprised, the victim spins around to face his attacker before falling to the ground.
Police said no words were exchanged between the two and the attack was unprovoked.
Police released video of a July 5 burning liquid attack in Midtown Manhattan
He tosses a cup of an unknown substance onto the back of the 57-year-old’s head before the victim falls to the ground
The next day, the victim went to the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center where he was treated for second-degree burns to his back.
Police did not say what liquid was thrown over the victim.
Officers described the attacker as an adult man, around 5-foot-7, 130 pounds, with a light complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.
Police are seeking information on the attacker, and request any tips be sent to NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 577-8477 or by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
The unprovoked attack came as violent crime in the city has increased in recent months.
The NYPD has reported 11,033 felony assaults so far in 2021 – up 6% on the 10,407 in 2020 according to official crime statistics.
Homicides are also up, with 225 murders so far this year, up 4.7% from 215 last year.
Shootings have also surged 28.9%. So far this year there have been 803 shooting incidents – up from last year’s total of 623. There have been 931 shooting victims, up from 762 in 2020.
Violent crimes in the city have increased in recent months, with shootings and murders up from the same period last year
The Manhattan attack was the latest in a string of unprovoked attacks which have rocked New York in recent months.
On June 18, a man was slashed on the head in a busy Times Square subway station during the evening rush hour, before the suspect fled.
The 35-year-old victim in that case was waiting for a 1/2/3 train just before 7pm before the brazen attack in the Big Apple’s busiest station.
That slashing came after another man was stabbed five times on a platform at the 59th Street-Columbus Circle station on June 16, after he tried to break up a fight between a man and a woman.
On June 14, an unidentified man attacked two people with a rock after an argument became physical on a Brooklyn-bound subway.
One of the victims was rushed to the hospital with bruising to the head and knee, and the other victim was treated at the scene, according to police.
And in May, another woman was attacked in an unprovoked stabbing on the subway before a passing journalist jumped in to save her.
In that attack at Union Square station on Wednesday 19th May, 54-year-old Kelli Daley was jumped by a man identified as 22-year-old Joshua Nazario.
Police said Nazario slashed Daley across her left shoulder, collarbone, and upper chest while she was waiting on the southbound N, Q, R platform for the train around 10.10pm.
Gun crime is also on the rise in New York, and the last week has seen three teens shot dead, including a 13-year-old, within five days as part of a ‘major gang war’ .
Just before midnight on Wednesday, 19-year-old Tyquill Daugherty was shot in the head in front of his home in the Crotona section of the Bronx.
Investigators believe Daugherty’s killing was gang-related.
In retaliation, authorities say Jaryan ‘Jay Ripp’ Elliot, 13, was killed as he stood outside Angels Café with a friend on East 187th Street in the Bronx’s Belmont neighborhood at around 3.15pm on Sunday.
The gunman approached Elliot in a black vehicle, stepped out and began firing, hitting him once in the chest and once in the leg, police said.
He is believed to have been the intended target.
Less than nine hours after Elliot was killed, gang-bangers took revenge for his murder by targeting Ramon Gil-Medrano, 16, about a mile away, according to the Post.
Tyquill Daugherty, left, was shot in the head in front of his home in the Crotona section of the Bronx. Ramon Gil-Medrano, right, was shot and killed in apparent revenge for the shooting of Jaryan ‘Jay Ripp’ Elliot
Jaryan ‘Jay Ripp’ Elliot, 13, was killed as he stood outside Angels Café with a friend on East 187th Street in the Bronx’s Belmont neighborhood
Two males riding scooters pulled up near Gil-Medrano in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx and fatally shot him, according to investigators.
New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams also took to Twitter to comment on the shootings, referring to Jaryan’s murder as ‘sickening’.
‘Ending gun violence must be our priority. Tonight we pray for his family. Tomorrow we must find his killer & get this gun off the street,’ Adams added.
The recent shootings come a day before Adams, a retired NYPD captain, travels to Washington to meet with President Biden to discuss curbing gun violence.
In May, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the rise in crime a ‘major problem,’ and said unless the NYPD gets a handle on it, the city would become undesirable.
‘New Yorkers don’t feel safe, and they don’t feel safe because the crime rate is up,’ he said. ‘It’s not that they’re being neurotic or overly sensitive – they’re right.’
New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea has previously blamed the surge in crime to the city council’s decision last year to slash the police department’s funding by $1 billion, and reallocate the money to education and social services.
Now, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the NYPD would boost payments for anonymous tips from $2,500 to $3,500 in an effort to combat the string of shootings and homicides.
He says crimes has soared because the world was ‘turned on its head’ with COVID. He has also blamed a backlog in the court system for it, saying it means criminals are on the streets longer than they might have been before.
However, critics have claimed it is ‘political grandstanding’ and that an increase in gun violence is caused by soft crime policies
And just last week, New York became the first state in the nation to declare gun violence an emergency as Gov. Cuomo pointed the finger at the manufacturers of weapons as one of the main reasons behind the spate of shootings and killings that is at its highest level since the early 2000s.
Cuomo targeted manufacturers of guns in a speech last Tuesday, with a bill allowing the New York Attorney General to sue them in some circumstances, and announced almost $139million in investment to reduce the rapidly-rising death toll.
Weapon manufacturers could face a lawsuit for harming the public by failing to take steps to prevent firearms from being sold unlawfully in New York, for instance.
The announcement comes ahead of next year’s election, where he is expected to launch a reelection campaign to stay in office.