A man wanted for sucker punching an 81-year-old woman in a seemingly random attack in Manhattan was arrested Thursday, cops said.
Police said Hansel Esparragoza, 37, was charged with second-degree assault for a brutal attack that left the victim hospitalized on Sept. 13.
The elderly victim was walking her dog on W. 66th St. near Amsterdam Ave. in Lincoln Square when Esparragoza crept up behind her and launched the cowardly assault around 7:09 p.m. that day, cops said.
The suspect struck the victim on the right side of her face, causing her to collapse, according to law enforcement. Medics rushed the victim to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical but stable condition, cops said.
Esparragoza’s alleged assault happened to coincide with another apparently random attack on another elderly woman the same day about a half-mile away.
Anthony Melendez, 37, was arrested last month for punching a 77-year-old woman on W. 72nd St. near Columbus Ave. around 2 p.m. Sept. 13, cops said. She sustained minor injuries but was not hospitalized, police said.