Judge punched in face by man riding Citi Bike
NEW YORK - The NYPD wants to find the man who punched a judge in the face as she walked to work in Lower Manhattan.
The victim, identified by the NY Post as Judge Phyllis Chu, 56, was on Water Street near Wall Street at about 9:40 a.m. on Monday when the suspect punched her in the face with a closed fist, according to police. The man was riding a Citi Bike southbound on Water Street and kept riding in an unknown direction.
Judge Chu sustained swelling to the left side of her face but refused medical attention at the scene. According to the Post, she later went to the emergency room after arriving at work.
“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, spokesman for the city’s Office of Court Administration, told The Post.
The judge believes the man may have been emotionally disturbed.
The Police Benevolent Association posted a tweet about the attack saying it came after the city cut $1 billion of funding to the NYPD.
“A Manhattan judge became the latest victim of senseless city violence when she was cold-cocked by an apparent stranger” this morning in the lower Manhattan district of @CM_MargaretChin (who recently voted to slash NYPD funding)."
The attack came a day before the NYPD's chief chaplain was mugged. Rabbi Alvin Kass was walking near West 107th Street and Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side at about 5:45 a.m. when a man came up to him, said he was hungry, reached into the rabbi's pockets and grabbed his wallet, police said. The man apparently saw the rabbi's police shield, dropped the wallet, and walked away, police said. The suspect was later arrested.
Anyone with information about the assault on Judge Chu is encouraged to contact the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.