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New York Post
Photo shows disturbing moment bully knocks NYC grandma unconscious in vicious sneak attack
By Joe Marino, Amanda Woods,
17 days ago
A surveillance photo shows the moment a brute randomly knocked a grandmother unconscious in a broad-daylight sneak attack in the Bronx — leaving her battered and still suffering “breakdowns” days later.
Martha Veloz, 54, of New Jersey, had just gotten off the No. 4 train and was walking at East 167th Street and Jerome Avenue in Highbridge around 3 p.m. Wednesday when the stranger struck her and shoved her without warning, according to cops and her daughter, Stephanie Padin, 21.
The photo, obtained by The Post Monday, shows the victim tumbling to the ground with the bully standing behind her, arms outstretched.
Veloz is now terrified to go back into the Bronx, Padin said.
“She said she was walking down the hill…[when] a man just came randomly and hit her in the head with something,” Padin told The Post in a Monday phone interview. “He hit her in the head and then he pushed her down to the ground.
“She passed out for a minute and she thought everything was black,” the victim’s daughter added. “She tried to wake up again … and she started crying hysterically because she’s got a lot of blood coming down.”
Veloz, who had just come from a doctor’s appointment in Brooklyn, was on her way to visit Padin’s father when she was attacked. Padin’s father was planning to buy a gift for his 21-month-old granddaughter, Padin’s daughter.
“A few people were trying to help her get up also because they saw her when she went down to the ground and was bleeding,” Padin said.
“Right now when she goes out, I go out with her and my daughter,” Padin said. “But she’s scared to go to the Bronx. She doesn’t want to go to the Bronx [any]more. She doesn’t want to be there alone.
“I feel like she’s got PTSD now because I have PTSD and what she’s telling me she feels is exactly what I felt,” her daughter explained. “She keeps having breakdowns now. She keeps asking God, ‘Why me? I’m a good woman. I didn’t deserve this. Why did this man do this to me?’”…. I’ve been trying to calm her down a little bit.”
“My mom says she would like to tell the mayor and the president that what we could do better is try to catch all these guys that are just hitting random women and get them on the street and arrest them,” Padin said, translating for her mother, who spoke in Spanish. “Or if they need mental health, put them in a mental hospital so this could stop. Because there’s a lot of crap happening to us women.”
The attacker, described as a male with a dark complexion and a heavy build, last seen wearing a black hat, red hooded sweatshirt, dark colored T-shirt, dark color pants, and white sneakers, was still on the loose Monday.
“I don’t like the fact that these guys like to attack women, because as women, we’re strong, but we’re not as strong as men,” Padin said. “So that gets me real mad, that this guy would choose to hit any female just because he feels like it or just because he’s having a bad day.
“I just don’t know what’s going on in this guy’s mind,” she added. “I’m just really upset and my whole family is very upset this happened to my mom. And we just want the police or if anybody knows him to catch him.”
For the latest metro stories, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/metro/
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