NYU student hit, shoved to the ground in shocking random attack on way to class

An NYU student was thrown to the ground while walking to class in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning — with the shocking and unprovoked attack caught on surveillance video.

Big Apple coed Amelia Lewis said she was walking down Broadway shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Monday when a violent vagrant came up behind her and attacked her without warning.

“As I’m walking, like with my headphones on listening to music, I feel something slap me so hard, like literally on my ass,” Lewis, 20, said in a tearful TikTok post following the assault.

“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, oh that hurts so bad!’ I thought it was like one of my friends. I was gonna turn around and be like, ‘Oh, that hurt so bad, why did you do that?’

“But when I turned around, I saw this old white guy. And like right when I turned around, he grabs my f—ing hair like this and like yanks me and like threw me to the ground. My headphones went f–ing flying,” Lewis sobbed.

“And I was like on the ground and I saw him just bolt away down Waverly. And I was like, ‘Holy s–t? What the f–k just happened?’”

The chilling clip shows the thug stalking up behind Lewis before the attack, and fleeing while she lay on the ground as shocked bystanders came to her aid.

Cops arrested and charged serial creep James Rizzo, a 45-year-old homeless man who has a history of assaulting unsuspecting young women, with persistent sexual abuse, forcible touching and assault charges Tuesday evening.

Rizzo has 16 prior busts, including for sexual abuse and forcible touching and even a 1997 murder rap. He was released from state prison in September after being sentenced to two years behind bars on a persistent sexual abuse conviction, online correction records show.

Meanwhile, the traumatized student issued a warning.

🚨🇺🇸 NYU STUDENT SHARES ASSAULT FOOTAGE AS SERIAL ATTACKER TARGETS WOMEN AROUND CAMPUS

Another day in New York City.

An NYU student has released surveillance footage of herself being violently assaulted on Broadway while walking to her 9:30 a.m. class.

The video shows a man… pic.twitter.com/TU5iGKqHI0

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 2, 2025

“I just really want to emphasize how not ok this is,” Lewis said in another post shared on X. “I’m honestly still in shock, but I’m more enraged that things like this are able to happen in this city, and we really need to do something about it because this is unacceptable.

“This just shows that you really need to reflect on who you’re voting for and supporting right now, because New York needs help and we’re just not getting the help we need and this is crazy,” she added.

Lewis said her attacker was “a tall white male with tall brunette hair and a long brunette beard, and is wearing grey sweatpants and a big black fur jacket and a blue towel around his neck.”

The university “is deeply disturbed by the attack on one of its female students that took place yesterday morning on a Broadway sidewalk,” an NYU spokesperson said in a statement.

“We take this incident very seriously; we are offering support to the student, and NYU’s Campus Safety Department is working with the police in investigating the incident,” the spokesperson said.

Additional reporting by Estrella McDaniel

An NYU student was thrown to the ground while walking to class in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning — with the shocking and unprovoked attack caught on surveillance video.

Big Apple coed Amelia Lewis said she was walking down Broadway shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Monday when a violent vagrant came up behind her and attacked her without warning.

“As I’m walking, like with my headphones on listening to music, I feel something slap me so hard, like literally on my ass,” Lewis, 20, said in a tearful TikTok post following the assault.

“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, oh that hurts so bad!’ I thought it was like one of my friends. I was gonna turn around and be like, ‘Oh, that hurt so bad, why did you do that?’

“But when I turned around, I saw this old white guy. And like right when I turned around, he grabs my f—ing hair like this and like yanks me and like threw me to the ground. My headphones went f–ing flying,” Lewis sobbed.

“And I was like on the ground and I saw him just bolt away down Waverly. And I was like, ‘Holy s–t? What the f–k just happened?’”

The chilling clip shows the thug stalking up behind Lewis before the attack, and fleeing while she lay on the ground as shocked bystanders came to her aid.

Cops arrested and charged serial creep James Rizzo, a 45-year-old homeless man who has a history of assaulting unsuspecting young women, with persistent sexual abuse, forcible touching and assault charges Tuesday evening.

Rizzo has 16 prior busts, including for sexual abuse and forcible touching and even a 1997 murder rap. He was released from state prison in September after being sentenced to two years behind bars on a persistent sexual abuse conviction, online correction records show.

Meanwhile, the traumatized student issued a warning.

🚨🇺🇸 NYU STUDENT SHARES ASSAULT FOOTAGE AS SERIAL ATTACKER TARGETS WOMEN AROUND CAMPUS

Another day in New York City.

An NYU student has released surveillance footage of herself being violently assaulted on Broadway while walking to her 9:30 a.m. class.

The video shows a man… pic.twitter.com/TU5iGKqHI0

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 2, 2025

“I just really want to emphasize how not ok this is,” Lewis said in another post shared on X. “I’m honestly still in shock, but I’m more enraged that things like this are able to happen in this city, and we really need to do something about it because this is unacceptable.

“This just shows that you really need to reflect on who you’re voting for and supporting right now, because New York needs help and we’re just not getting the help we need and this is crazy,” she added.

Lewis said her attacker was “a tall white male with tall brunette hair and a long brunette beard, and is wearing grey sweatpants and a big black fur jacket and a blue towel around his neck.”

The university “is deeply disturbed by the attack on one of its female students that took place yesterday morning on a Broadway sidewalk,” an NYU spokesperson said in a statement.

“We take this incident very seriously; we are offering support to the student, and NYU’s Campus Safety Department is working with the police in investigating the incident,” the spokesperson said.

Additional reporting by Estrella McDaniel