Steve Buscemi fans have called on New York City cops after the star became the second Broadwalk Empire cast member to be randomly attacked on the street in a month, stating ‘NYC is out of control’.
The Brooklyn native, 66, was taking a solitary walk along Third Avenue near East 27th Street in Kips Bay, in eastern Manhattan, at 11.48am on Wednesday, police said, before he was brutally attacked.
Buscemi was dashed to hospital where he was treated for bruising, swelling, and bleeding to his left eye after his assailant punched him in the face.
With his attacker still at large, the Hollywood star’s fans have taken to social media to call for tighter police control following the random assault of the ‘national treasure’.
One furious fan wrote: ‘Out of all the celebrities to get punched, it should not have been Steve Buscemi. NYC is out of control’.
Steve Buscemi was assaulted while walking down a street in New York City on Wednesday as fans have called on NYC cops to ‘get your s*** together’
Police released a surveillance image of the alleged attacker, wearing a dark baseball hat, blue T-shirt, black pants, and white sneakers
Another said: ‘Whoever physically harmed Steve Buscemi should be publicly flogged. The f***ing audacity. That man is a goddamn national treasure. He is NOT TO BE HARMED’.
Fellow actor Michael Rapaport also spoke out on the attack, calling Buscemi a ‘hero of mine’ and adding that he was ‘a former firefighter who worked onsite 9/11, great artist, and easily one of the kindest and most generous people you could meet’.
Buscemi grew up in NYC and was a firefighter in Brooklyn before he quit in the 1980s to pursue an acting career.
The hero returned to his old firehouse hours after the September 11 attacks and stayed at the World Trade Center site for days, sifting through rubble.
A worker who was nearby when the assault took place told the New York Post: ‘I saw he was with a woman, and then through the corner of the window I saw him trip and fall backwards.
‘He right away got up and ran in the opposite direction,’ they added. ‘I didn’t see who hit him.’
Now, fans across America and the globe are demanding ‘New York, get your s*** together’ after Buscemi became the second Boardwalk Empire star to be randomly attacked while out in the city.
‘I don’t know who punched Steve Buscemi but we hunting em down. No respect for a king. New York, get your s*** together,’ one angry fan posted on X, formerly Twitter.
One more concerned fan wrote: ‘Steve Buscemi got snuffed on his own block. It ain’t safe NYC. Need to be locked on an island we’ve never heard of’.
The assault on Buscemi comes after Michael Stuhlbarg was attacked on the streets of New York City earlier this year.
The actor, who played the iconic role of gangster Arnold Rothstein on the show, was out for a run near Central Park when he was a attacked by a homeless man wielding a rock.
Stuhlbarg was close to East 90th and East Drive on the evening of March 31 when Xavier Israel, 27, threw a rock at his head, striking him in the back of the neck.
The 55-year-old suffered ‘minor injuries’ and he was seen on camera chasing Israel down to the Russian consulate at East 91st Street, where cops stationed outside apprehended the assailant.
The actor was offered medical attention at the scene, but he refused treatment, the NYPD said. Israel, who is homeless, was taken into custody and charged with assault.
He had previously been arrested for two violent assaults and a robbery in January 2022, cops confirmed at the time.
Michael Stuhlbarg, 55, was approached seemingly at random by a homeless man in the Upper East Side on March 31
A string of assaults on women have taken place recently in New York, with Page Six reporting in March that at least 25 women had posted on TikTok in just a few months to say it had happened to them.
These random punching attacks in New York City appeared to be part of a disturbing trend called the knockout game – where strangers punch random strangers in New York City with the intent of ‘punching them unconscious.’
On March 20, a 33-year-old woman was punched in the face in New York City when an attacker approached from behind.
The random assault left the victim with minor injuries but she luckily did not require medical attention at the scene.
Earlier that same day, a 23-year-old woman was attacked just blocks away on West 14th Street and Sixth Ave.
NYPD Chief of Detectives said at the time that a staggering total of 12 similar incidents had occurred over the past two weeks, with six suspects arrested while others remain at large.
According to the most recent NYPD crime statistics, the number of felony assaults recorded in the first quarter of this year went up by 3.8 per cent from 6,159 to 6,390.
The number of assaults in March also increased by 5.5 per cent on last year.