A 75-year-old woman who was randomly slugged in the face by a man in upper Manhattan is a retired crime reporter — and is now calling on city officials to do something about the Big Apple’s growing mental health crisis.
Judith Thomas, a former Channel 9 reporter, was sporting a massive bruise on her face Monday, along with swollen cheeks and lips, a day after she was sucker-punched in broad daylight.
“We do not have enough mental health facilities for these people,” Thomas told The Post.
“Somebody like this should be at a mental health facility and on medication because nobody does this. You don’t go around punching old women in the face.
“That’s just nuts.”
The man suspected of punching Judith Thomas in broad daylight in the Bronx. DCPIThomas said she was walking to a restaurant for Easter and was just a block away from the Harlem eatery near 168 Lenox Ave. just after 3 p.m. Sunday when an unknown man attacked her.
“He didn’t look threatening… He just looked like another guy on the street,” Thomas said.
A still image from the scene of the assault. DCPI“I just walked by him, I didn’t even get out of his way and as he walked by me he reached out and he delivered a hefty punch. I was on the ground. He walked quickly away.”
“We do not have enough mental health facilities for these people,” Judith Thomas told The Post. James Messerschmidt“I’m not the only person this has happened to, that’s why I want to speak out about it,” she said.
The former journalist said she’s still a news-junkie — and won’t be giving up on this story.
“He didn’t look threatening… He just looked like another guy on the street,” Judith Thomas said of her suspected assailant. James Messerschmidt“Believe me, if they catch him, I’m going to court. These guys don’t intimidate me,” she said.
Cops on Monday were still searching for the suspect in the attack, which was captured on video.
Judith Thomas, a former Channel 9 news reporter, was randomly attacked on 118th Street in Harlem, NY on April 2, 2021.James Messerschmidt