NewsNation

NYC serial puncher: Victim says she recognizes attacker

(NewsNation) — Several women have taken to TikTok to detail the terrifying experience of being sucker-punched in the head by an unknown man in New York City.

One of the victims, Sarah Harvard, joined NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield on Wednesday night with a potential lead on a suspect.


“It’s pretty ingrained in my head of what he looked like,” Harvard said on Banfield.” “I want to make a note that he attacked me from behind, so when I turned around, he was running away. But it’s the same build, same hair. I’m pretty confident it’s him.”

Harvard said a classmate of another victim reached out to her via Instagram. They matched Harvard’s description of the attacker to recent surveillance video that captures a man walking around Parsons’ School of Fashion in New York.

In a thread posted to “X” last week, Harvard detailed her experience: “On Tuesday 3/19 @ around 8p, I was walking alone out of the Delancey/Essex St station where I got punched in the back of my skull from a random man on the street. … A lot of these women shared similar descriptions (on TikTok) of the man who punched them (and me). He was a black male around 6ft wearing dreads that stopped right above his shoulders. I distinctively remember that he was wearing a knit hat and was wearing a denim jacket and jeans.”

New York police told NBC News they are investigating recent incidents of women being assaulted They wouldn’t specifically confirm that they’re investigating the incidents described on TikTok, but did say the cases resemble those shared on social media.