Elderly man punched and knocked to the ground in random attack in Queens

JACKSON HEIGHTS, Queens (WABC) -- An elderly man found himself targeted and attacked last week in Queens for seemingly being vulnerable and in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"'Are you American?' I thought it was an innocent question so I said, 'Yes,'" said victim William Seifert. "So the very next thing he said to me is 'You're attacking immigrants.'"

The 85-year-old man, with his cheek still bruised and bones in his face still fractured says it happened so fast he wouldn't even be able to identify the suspect.

"Well then I felt uneasy and tried to move out of his sphere and then he hit me and I went down. Punched me in the face," Seifert said.

Police say the alleged assailant is the man seen in this video following the attack last Wednesday afternoon in Jackson Heights.

Seifert's left eye is no longer swollen shut after it was following the incident.

He says he stopped under an awning to get out from the rain when the man assaulted him.

He's also not calling this a hate crime, but an attack that was irrational.

"The color of the skin wouldn't tell anyone that you're American would it?" Seifert said.

In fact, he describes himself as a liberal.

"I'm not a Trump supporter, thank God, sorry Donald," Seifert said. "And I'm not anti-immigrant."

Police are not investigating this as a hate crime, and they're also not aware if any words were exchanged before the attack.

Authorities also say that the suspect slapped an 18-year-old woman in the face shortly before and not far from where Seifert was attacked.