A 21-year-old homeless man has been busted for the unprovoked assault of a 75-year-old woman using a walker outside Macy’s flagship Manhattan store, police said Tuesday.
Anthony Kwamel was arrested Monday and charged with assault.
Police had released surveillance footage of the shirtless suspect following the June 10 attack and asked the public’s help identifying him.
Victim Jeannette Smalls exited Macy’s Herald Square at Sixth Ave. and W. 34th St. in Midtown and was crossing the street when she was attacked.
Kwamel allegedly cursed Smalls then shoved her to the ground and kicked her multiple times.
“It was a horrid nightmare,” Smalls told the Daily News. “The guy comes along and said, ‘You’re not going nowhere.’ He was crazy. He kicked me. I fell on my back. He took my walker and he tossed it across the street.”
As Smalls writhed in pain on the ground her attacker ran off downtown on Sixth Ave. Smalls said a passerby put the bandit in a chokehold before he broke free and fled.
Medics took Smalls to Mount Sinai West Hospital with bruises to her legs as well as a deep cut to her knee.
Smalls said the attacker rummaged through her bag and stole some items, including $25 worth of vitamins.
“I don’t feel comfortable going out by myself,” she said. “My sister told me not to go out until he’s caught.”
The suspect, police said, was arrested in Manhattan last year for menacing and assault and in 2021 for an assault in Brooklyn.
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