What to Know
- A man was sucker-punched in the face in Riverside Park Wednesday afternoon
- The attacker was caught just three blocks away and arrested
- It's the latest in a string of violent encounters in the park this month
A man walking in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side was sucker-punched by a stranger, the latest in a string of attacks on parkgoers there in recent months.
Police say the 51-year-old victim was walking in the park near West 97th Street and Riverside at about 5 p.m. Wednesday when a stranger ran up and punched him in the face, then ran off.
Responding police officers found the suspect just three blocks away and took him in for questioning. The 45-year-old suspect, Richard DeLeon of the Bronx, has been charged with assault. Attorney information wasn't immediately available.
The victim, meanwhile, was taken by ambulance to the hospital with a jaw injury. It's not clear why he was targeted.
Earlier this month, a woman walking her dog in Riverside Park near 107th Street was groped by a man. She managed to put him in a headlock and kick him in the groin, but he got away. And a few days later, a man was cut in the arm when he tried to intervene in a dispute between two men.
Excluding Central Park, crime in city parks is up 23 percent so far in 2016, compared to the same time last year, according to the most recent NYPD statistics. Riverside is among the top five parks with the most violent crimes in the city, with 13 incidents in nine months.
