An 83-year-old woman was knocked to the ground outside 2 Bryant Park on Halloween afternoon after a man approached her from behind and pushed her, according to the New York Police Department, which is now asking the public to help identify him. The attack happened at approximately 4:40 p.m. on October 31, leaving the victim with injuries to her face, hands and the right side of her rib cage.
According to NYPD Crime Stoppers
, the suspect fled on foot heading northbound on Avenue of the Americas after the assault, which occurred within the confines of the Midtown South Precinct. Investigators have not released a description of the man's appearance, and the post does not say whether he has since been identified or arrested. NYPD is offering up to $3,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case.
How to Submit a Tip
Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish speakers, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers website or via X at @nypdtips, and NYPD says all calls are kept strictly confidential.
This is not the only recent case of an older woman targeted in an unprovoked street attack in Manhattan. In June, an 85-year-old woman was shoved face-first onto a sidewalk near Union Square Park and seriously injured, according to the New York Daily News. Police in that case arrested a 29-year-old student on an assault charge.
Other Attacks on Elderly New Yorkers
On the Upper West Side, 81-year-old Geula Freeman was punched while walking her son's dog on West 66th Street near Amsterdam Avenue, per CBS New York. That outlet reported the suspect remained at large, and that a 77-year-old woman had also been attacked just hours earlier a few blocks away on West 72nd Street. In a separate incident in Midtown this past May, five people were sought after one victim was punched and kicked and slashed in the neck and face, while his friend was punched, near 7th Avenue and West 33rd Street, which amNewYork described as a gang assault that began with a verbal dispute.
A Neighborhood Watching Its Numbers Climb
Midtown has seen a notable rise in felony assaults in recent years. The Bigger Apple, a publication of the Manhattan Institute, reports that official NYPD figures show Midtown's two precincts recording 375 felony assaults in 2019 and 884 in 2025, a 136 percent jump compared with a 44 percent increase citywide over the same stretch. The outlet's own analysis of individual complaint records counted 379 and 870, respectively, with the differences attributed to filtering of specific subcategories. Through October 18 of this year, the site counted 764 felony assaults in Midtown, 6 percent more than the same point in 2025, and said three-quarters of those incidents happen in public. It is not established that these broader trends are connected to the Bryant Park case.
No motive or relationship between the suspect and the 83-year-old victim has been disclosed. For now, NYPD is relying on the public and the promise of anonymity to help track down the man who left her injured on a Midtown sidewalk.
