Beloved comedian Rick Moranis was punched on a Manhattan street early Thursday morning, and the NYPD is looking for the suspect.
According to police, at 7:24 a.m. on Oct. 1, the victim — who the NYPD confirmed to CBS New York was 67-year-old Rick Moranis — was walking southbound on Central Park West near West 70th Street when an unknown man punched Moranis in the head with a closed fist.
Moranis was knocked to the ground as a result and the suspect fled the scene northbound on foot. Moranis suffered head, back, and right hip and traveled by private means to an area hospital for evaluation, before reporting the incident to police at the 20th Precinct.
Moranis is best known for his work on “Ghostbusters,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Honey I Shrunk the Kids,” “Spaceballs” and more. After news broke about the attack, Twitter users were outraged to hear about the assault and called for the suspect to be brought to justice.
“Who in their right mind would just walk up and punch Rick Moranis in the head?!” said @GeekVibesNation in a tweet. “The dude is a national treasure and wouldn’t harm a fly[.]”
“I’m not for the death penalty but anyone who harms Rick Moranis deserves the worst punishment our society can come up with.” said @Brendelbored in another tweet.
Surveillance video of the unidentified individual, taken from the vicinity of the incident location, was released by the NYPD. The NYPD also released another image of the suspect.
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). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website or on Twitter @ NYPDTips.
Updated at 2:03 p.m.
