Police officials said Wednesday that they do not believe a recent spate of sucker-punchings targeting women are the result of a terrible TikTok trend.
A growing number of women have taken to social media recently saying that they were victims of unprovoked punchings during daytime hours on the streets of Manhattan; at least 12 such incidents have been confirmed in the Manhattan South area, police sources reported.
This had some convinced that this was the rise of a dark new social media trend challenging users to commit the attacks. But police brass said on April 3 that they do not believe this to be the case.
“No, I don’t believe it’s being driven by social media. Obviously, the social media aspect is that people are becoming aware of it and people are reporting in the past two weeks,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. “The majority of these incidents have been occurring in Manhattan South, we’re not seeing it anywhere else.”
Chief Kenny reported that police have made six arrests, and two more assailants are still at large.
The most recent attack in Manhattan South occurred on March 20 at around 10 a.m. in front of a McDonald’s on 6th Avenue between 14th and 15th streets.
At that location, a man left the fast-food chain and, without warning, punched a 23-year-old woman in the face.
“She receives a broken nose,” Chief Kenny said. “My detectives get out there, we do a video canvas. We’re able to get a good still based on the video from the location and we are able to get a facial recognition hit on that suspect.”
Kenny cautioned that the hit only constitutes a clue, and does not by itself give officers probable cause to make an arrest. Police are asking anyone who recognizes the individual to come forward.
In terms of why more cases have emerged, Kenny posited that it’s likely because more people have been reporting the incidents, something which the department encourages.
Anyone with any information regarding the assaults, or who may be a victim of an assault, is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish speakers, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
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