An ex-con who allegedly sucker-punched a stranger outside a Bronx restaurant and knocked him into a coma was ordered held on $100,000 bail Thursday after prosecutors finally hit him with felony charges.

Bui Van Phu, 55, was arraigned on second-degree assault in the shocking caught-on-video attack of 52-year-old Jesus Cortes outside the Fuego Tipico Restaurant on Aug. 12.

Phu, a convicted sex offender who is on lifetime parole, was initially released without bail in the horrific beatdown last month — sparking outrage that led to Gov. Kathy Hochul saying she was intervening in the case to get him locked up.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark maintained Thursday that her office at the time could only charge Phu with the misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, which were not bail-eligible and led to the ex-con’s release.

“Given the grave facts of this case — the nature of the injuries and hospitalization –, it is clear there are times when assault in the third degree should be bail eligible,” Clark said Thursday. “This is something that our legislators must consider rectifying by providing more judicial discretion to set bail on third-degree assault cases.”

In court, Assistant District Attorney Lisa Ortolano described the extent of Cortes’ injuries.

“That strike caused severe traumatic brain injury, as well as several broken bones in is face,” Ortolano told the judge. “The victim was in a coma for weeks. He is still in the hospital to this day. He is still on a feeding tube five weeks later.”

Based on the injuries and other factors, Clark said her office then built enough evidence for a second-degree assault charge in the case, a felony that is eligible for bail.

Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas on Thursday set Phu’s bail at $100,000 cash, $300,000 bond, or $500,000 partially secured bond.

Phu’s defense attorney, during the hearing, blamed Hochul for his client’s plight, claiming his case got overblown because she stepped in last month to have him busted on a state parole violation.

“This is overcharged, and it’s overcharged because a politician got involved,” defense attorney Casey Trimble told Villegas during Phu’s arraignment on the felony assault indictment.

“This was originally charged as a misdemeanor,” Trimble said. “The people consented to supervised release in this matter. And then during an election year, Gov. Hochul got involved, made some phone calls, and escalated everything.”

He claimed the governor had called prosecutors and parole officials and “forced everyone’s hands.”

Phu was busted after his parole officer recognized him from the footage — and he later called her to confess after police released his photo and were closing in.

“I hit someone and he’s in the hospital,” Phu allegedly told parole officer Denise Payano, she testified at a court hearing in the case last month. “I don’t know if he’s dead. The police are looking for me.”

Police charged Phu with attempted murder, only to watch as the DA reduced the charges to non-bail-eligible misdemeanors, claiming that was all the evidence allowed at the time.

The DA insisted Thursday that her office couldn’t initially prove the attempted murder charge. Prosecutors later investigated, she said and asked the grand jury to have the misdemeanor charges against Phu upgraded to a felony.

Clark denied that the office bowed to pressure from Albany to up the charges.

“It depends on the case, and what I did was make sure that we investigated and we followed the evidence where it led us to go into the grand jury and submit more charges,” she said. “It wasn’t because of political pressure. It was because of what I needed to do.”

Clark noted that when the governor’s office reached out, it “was informed that we were continuing to investigate and we were considering elevating the case … But, again, we were still collecting evidence.”

“That defense attorney can have his opinion,” she added. “I know the evidence that I have.”

In an email Thursday, Hochul’s office said the governor’s “top priority is to strengthen public safety across New York,” and vowed to continue working with local officials and law enforcement to that end.

Meanwhile, Cortes’ niece said outside the courtroom that Phu belongs behind bars.

“I really, really, really want the judge to put him behind bars, for him to do his time — not one year or two, but 10 or more,” Daisy Gomez, 27, told reporters.

“It’s a crime you commit. You have to pay for it,” she said. “What does it have to take? The person dead for you to be behind bars?”