New York City Homeless Man Allegedly Punches 71-Year-Old Woman, Throws Bottle At Toddler

A homeless man allegedly attacked an elderly woman and struck a toddler in the head with a bottle on the Upper East Side of New York City on Wednesday.

The suspect, identified as Antonio Marquez, 53, attacked the 71-year-old woman before he was stopped by doormen on Third Avenue. He is now charged with felony assault, the New York Post reported.

One of the doormen, Mike Lombardi, said the elderly woman was a cancer survivor, who was seemingly returning from treatment when she was attacked by Marquez.

"She managed to get up and make it over here," Lombardi said.

Robert Fitch, father of 13-month-old Leona, who was struck with a bottle, said they had crossed Third Avenue when suddenly a bottle was thrown at his daughter.

"I heard it hit her head," Fitch said. "It was a water bottle or soda bottle. My wife was pushing the stroller, so I handed her off to my wife."

When Fitch, along with one of the doormen, confronted Marquez, he tried to counter them.

"One of the doormen and I confronted the guy and were like, 'What's your deal?' He put up his dukes and tried to fight me," Fitch said.

A number of doormen came for assistance, surrounding the violent man, he added. Moments later, the police reached the site and took Marquez into custody.

"I was talking with my friend and we saw the guy across the avenue arguing with another guy," said doorman Fernando Ortega. "They ran straight down and we didn't pay attention until he punched the old lady and she fell."

"Then he picked up a bottle and threw it at a little baby," Ortega added. "After that, we all got together and cornered the guy until the police came."

The motive behind the attack on the woman and child was not clear.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. I just want to go to the train," Marquez pleaded as the men took him down.

Marquez had also tried to chase a man earlier in the morning and used racial slurs against him.

Fitch pointed out that similar instances of attack by the homeless have become common in the city.

A 74-year-old woman was sucker punched by a stranger in Midtown in August. The woman was walking down tony Madison Ave. when an unidentified woman slammed her to the ground, a video recovered by the police showed.