A New York City judge was apparently punched in the face while she walked to work, in yet another instance of people launching attacks on passersby in the Big Apple.
“With no words exchanged, a bicyclist riding in the opposite direction as the one she was walking in just punched her in the face and kept going,’’ Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Court Administration, told the New York Post of what happened to criminal court Judge Phyllis Chu.
Chu, 56, had reportedly just exited the Staten Island Ferry and was headed to her office in downtown Manhattan after 9:30 a.m. when the incident occurred. She called the police after taking the hit by a man on a Citi Bike, and she searched the streets with officers to find the perpetrator.
“The individual who may have been emotionally disturbed was nowhere to be found,’’ Chalfen said, highlighting how the incident occurred “in broad daylight.’’
The judge had a swollen lip and was taken to the hospital after she eventually made it to work.
Chu was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2017 and has worked on high-profile cases involving people such as Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bethenny Frankel.
Reports of people being attacked unprovoked in New York City continue this summer as other violence, such as shootings, skyrocket. Just this weekend, a 25-year-old woman was waiting for the train in an Upper East Side subway station when a man reportedly pushed her to the ground and then attempted to rape her.
Bystanders stepped in to stop the attack, and police have arrested the suspect.
