Judge, 56, is punched in the face ‘by a stranger on a Citi Bike’ as she walked to work in NYC

A New York judge was punched in the face by a stranger on a Citi Bike as she walked to work in Manhattan Monday, police said.  

Judge Phyllis Chu, 56, was heading to a downtown courthouse from the Staten Island ferry at around 9:30am when law enforcement say she was randomly attacked. 

The incident came just hours before two more people are shot in the Bronx.

New York City has been reeling from a crime wave this year that has forced the police department to increase weekend patrols citywide. 

On Saturday a New York City man was arrested after he was caught on camera allegedly attempting to rape a 25-year-old woman on an Upper East Side subway platform.

Chu, who has dealt with the recent case involving actor Cuba Gooding Jr., suffered a swollen lip and was treated at hospital. She was released later that afternoon. 

Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the city’s Office of Court Administration, told The New York Post: ‘With no words exchanged, a bicyclist riding in the opposite direction as the one she was walking in just punched her in the face and kept going.

‘The individual who may have been emotionally disturbed was nowhere to be found.’  

Hours later in the Bronx two men, aged 26 and 28, were shot by an unidentified suspect. The younger man was shot in the chest; the older victim in the leg and arm. 

The motive of the shooting is unknown but it comes on the back of a rise in crime officials are linking to the pandemic, a surge in unemployment, civil unrest, and protests. 

There was a 162 per cent increase in the number of shooting victims and a 166 per cent increase in the number of shooting incidents during the four-week period that ended on August 23 compared to the same period last year, police data shows. 

During the four-week period ending on August 23, the city recorded 48 homicides – a 50 per cent increase from the 32 homicides that were recorded during the same period last year.

Between January 1 and August 23, the city recorded 280 homicides – a 35 per cent increase from 208 homicides that were recorded during the same period of 2019. 

In July, murders were up 58.8 percent when compared to the same month last year. Shootings were up a staggering 177 per cent. 

In Manhattan’s Upper West Side residents have complained and threatened to sue the Mayor after homeless people were moved into three luxury hotels in the area to protect them from COVID-19. 

Residents of the upscale neighborhood complain that the move-in of the vagrants has brought with it increased crime, random violence, drugs, public urination and open prostitution. 

At the moment more than 13,000 homeless people are being housed in 139 hotels across the Big Apple, including three luxury hotels – The Belleclaire, The Lucerne and The Belnord – on the Upper West Side. 

And on Saturday Jose Reyes, a Bronx resident, was arrested after he was caught on camera allegedly attempting to rape a woman on a subway platform. He has been charged with attempted rape, assault and harassment.  

The uptick in crime comes as protests have unfolded across the country denouncing police brutality and seeking to defund police departments.  

New York City announced it will slash the police budget by $1billion in July. The department budget was almost $6billion for the 2020 fiscal year.