Video showed a man allegedly hitting a toddler inside a Harlem restaurant, and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is seeking help in identifying the suspect, the New York Post reported Sunday.
The clip showed the unidentified person enter the Red Star restaurant located at 147th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard in Manhattan while holding “a small child” at approximately 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, police stated.
The footage showed the man apparently drop the victim on the floor then “strike the child causing the child to fall to the ground,” law enforcement explained in a statement.
“The adult male then puts the child in a stroller and exited the location on foot in an unknown direction,” authorities continued.
Officers were notified of the incident when someone at the business called 911, but the man and child were gone by the time officers arrived.
However, police learned of the surveillance footage.
The child’s age and sex were not immediately known, the Post article said, adding, “Police described the individual being sought as a man between 20 and 30 years old.”
Citizens with information about the incident were urged to contact the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish speakers, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Meanwhile, New Yorkers are feeling more vulnerable than they have in a long time, ABC 7 reported on January 24.
“It’s just a very sad situation, what’s going on in New York City,” a Harlem resident explained. “I hope New York City gets better.”
The ABC 7 article continued:
Violent crime has been rising over the past two years, with crazed, unstable people in the subways and fearless teenagers with guns. Shootings that once took place in back alleys now happen on crowded streets in the middle of the afternoon, gang members blasting at one another with bystanders caught in the crossfire.
Among the latest victims is an infant, struck in the face with a stray bullet. Police officers are being shot, and unsuspecting subway riders are being attacked at random. Others are being robbed. In the past two months, it’s become an onslaught.
Adams talked tough when it came to crime, yet praised Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as Bragg vowed not to prosecute certain crimes.
Malliotakis explained, “So, what New York City is going to see now is our city, unfortunately, move toward the anarchy of Portland, the murders of Chicago, the smash and grabs of San Francisco, and I am deeply concerned about this.”
“If we’re going to continue to elect people like this in our city, Batman is not even going to be able to save Gotham anymore,” she stated.