Exclusive: 75-year-old woman speaks out after being tackled in random NYC assault
QUEENS (WABC) -- A 75-year-old woman who was tackled during a seemingly random attack in Queens is speaking out exclusively to Eyewitness News reporter NJ Burkett.
Younghee Choe, a retired nurse, said she doesn't remember the attack, which happened around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday on Queens Boulevard.
Surveillance video shows her assailant appearing out of nowhere and tackling her to the ground. He shoves her face first to the sidewalk with such force that she was knocked unconscious, leaving the widow bleeding on the cold pavement.
"I don't know," she said. "I didn't hear anything, and I lost consciousness immediately when I fell down. So that's why I don't even remember his face. I don't know, I just completely went down, and I almost died."
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She said she has no idea why anybody would attack her, and she was simply walking down the street when it occurred.
"He wasn't (trying to rob me)," she said. "I don't know what was his purpose. I have no idea, and why he did that."
EMS rushed her to an area hospital for treatment of facial and neck injuries. Her left eye remains swollen shut, and she has essentially no memory of the attack.
"You can lose your life any time," she said. "This is not really a safe country anymore."
She believes she may never know why she was victimized, and if the man did say anything, she doesn't remember it.
It may or may not have been racially-motivated, but it is yet another seemingly random, senseless attack on the streets of New York.
"I think maybe some crazy people or some psych problem or something," she said. "I don't know. I don't know who he was, and I don't know nothing about him. And I didn't expect anything. If I was expecting some danger, I wouldn't go there."
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At this point, it is not being investigated as a bias crime.
Police hope video of the man will help lead to an arrest, but so far, no one is in custody.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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