Serial-Puncher Arrested for 8 Random Attacks on Women is Remanded on $20,000 Bail
A man accused of 8 random punching attacks on several women was arrested on April 23. He is now remanded on $20,000 bail following the arraignment on April 24. Prosecutors had sought bail to be set at $50,000.
| 24 Apr 2024 | 06:06
In one of the alleged punch attacks, suspect Daquan Armstead was said to have struck an assistant NYU professor on a street at the rear of Washington Square Park. The attack was being investigated as a hate crime. Photo: Slippy Hollow/Wikimedia Commons
A 30-year-old Bronx man was arrested on April 23 and charged with eight random punching attacks on women in Tribeca, the East Village, SOHO and Greenwich Village in March and April. He was remanded on $20,000 bail following his arraignment on April 24 in the Manhattan Criminal Court, according to prosecutors
Daquan Armstead, 31, was charged on four counts of assault, four as a hate crime and three others as attempted assault as a hate crime, at his arraignment. Police are continuing their investigation to see if he is connected to a spree of random attacks on women in the their 20s and 30s across lower Manhattan earlier this year.
When asked when he attacked his victims, Armstead responded, “They spit at me.” Police refuted the suspect’s claim that victims had spit on him.
“It's different with men,” Armstead allegedly told cops, the DA’s office confirmed. “They don't test you like women do. You have to check women sometimes.”
Armstead suffers from mental health issues his lawyer said in court on April 24, according to the NY Post.
“He seems to have fallen through the cracks, in regard to no longer receiving mental health treatment,” defense attorney Katherine Bajuk said in court, the Post reported.
“When someone with a mental health concern is incarcerated, nothing good happens with anybody,” she told Judge Michael Ryan, the Post reported. “The person becomes less commented with services they need, and the outcome for everyone and everything is worse.
The Manhattan DA reported a timeline of the suspect’s incidents:
In the first incident, Armstead was accused of punching a 30-year-old woman in the back of the head with a closed fist causing pain, a headache, nausea and dizziness, on March 24 at 8 p.m., in the Lower East Side.
From then on, Armstead kept at it.
Only a day later, Armstead was accused of punching a 36-year-old woman in the back of her shoulder with a closed fist causing pain, on March 25 at 10:15 a.m., a few blocks northwest of the first alleged incident.
A week later, Armstead allegedly asked a 38-year-old woman for money, and after the victim denied having money, the suspect then punched the victim in the back of the head with a closed fist causing pain on April 2 at 8:13 a.m., in Greenwich Village.
On the same day, Armstead allegedly punched a 44-year-old woman in the face with a closed fist causing pain, bruising and swelling on April 5 at 12:30 p.m., in the Lower East Side.
Shortly after, Armstead allegedly punched a 24-year-old woman in the back of the head with a closed fist causing pain to the victim’s head on April 8 at 9:45 a.m. also in the Lower East Side.
A little over a week later, Armstead allegedly punched a 27-year-old woman in the face, causing pain, redness, and swelling, on April 17 a little after 10:30 a.m., in his last incident, in Lower Manhattan.
But there is one more incident Armstead did not get charged for on April 24, however. He was allegedly accused of striking a 31-year-old female on the head on Feb. 12 minutes before noon. Police said he was arrested for that incident as well, but the D.A.’s office had not yet charged in connection with it.