Stroller-pushing maniac busted in NYC assault on grandmother
The stroller-pushing creep suspected of terrorizing at least five women on the Upper East Side has been arrested in connection to the latest assault — on a 64-year-old grandmother last week, police said.
Sam Mensah, 32 — who has nearly a dozen prior arrests — was nabbed Thursday night and charged with assault for allegedly shoving the woman around 3:30 p.m. Saturday on East 77th Street near Third Avenue, cops and sources said.
The victim, who has lived in the Big Apple for nearly 50 years, was pushed so forcefully that she scraped her knees and tore her clothes, according to cops and the woman’s daughter-in-law.
The woman — who wished to remain anonymous and has been “hypervigilant” since the attack — obtained surveillance video that showed her alleged assaulter in a red cap and pushing a stroller down the block with a little boy inside.
Her daughter-in-law told The Post earlier this week that she was concerned for the safety of the young boy.
“Where’s CPS in this?” she wondered, referring to Child Protective Services. “Are we waiting for this kid to die?”
Months earlier, Mensah allegedly knocked out cold a 68-year-old civil attorney — who told The Post Friday he’s “pissed” the suspect was released back on the streets following the December attack.
The victim, who wished to be identified only as Lawrence, was at a newsstand on East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue waiting to buy a snack when the stranger socked him in the face without provocation while walking with a baby in a carriage.
The man said he had no recollection of being knocked unconscious, and only learned he’d been attacked when a police officer told him.
Mensah told police the victim was leaning against his child’s stroller, prompting him to lash out, according to court filings.
He was arrested for felony assault and endangering the welfare of a child, but was released on a $1,500 bail with his next court appearance in the case scheduled for Monday — allowing him to continue his alleged rampage in the meantime.
“How do I feel about it? I’m pissed,” Lawrence told The Post about Mensah’s freedom.
“I’m a law abiding person. You can’t do to him what I want to do under the law,” he said.
“This is a guy with a record. The punishment that he had for his past crimes has apparently been irrelevant. There’s been no deterrence,” he added.
Another victim, Veronica Poloneitchik, told The Post that the same assailant shoved her to the ground on East 82nd Street and Second Avenue on June 26 — after admiring the man and young child on the street.
“I’ve never seen a smile like that, like when someone knows what they’re doing and loving it,” Poloneitchik said of the suspect’s sinister grin. “There’s so much pleasure that you can see in his eyes from doing that, he’s going to do it again.”
Three other women told The Post they were attacked by the same man in a similar fashion on Aug. 14, Aug. 18 and Sept. 8.
Kelly Kreth, the victim of the Aug. 14 incident, said the vile perpetrator spat in her eye as she walked her dog, Biggie Smalls, at East 85th Street and York Avenue.
“I got really scared because he was so close to my head that I thought he was going to hit me in the head,” Kreth said. “So I turned around and he was walking slowly away, so I snapped his picture. I saw him spit at another woman and continued to walk down York going south.”
In the two other cases, the suspect was wheeling the stroller with the kid in it when he allegedly purposely knocked into a woman.
The victim of the Sept. 8 attack, a 45-year-old mom who didn’t want to be identified, recalled that he “pushed me, like, pretty hard and knocked me off balance” outside her son’s school at East 95th Street and Third Avenue.
“It was like completely on purpose. And I was shocked because he had a baby with him,” she said.
“I hope he’s not abusing the child but, in any case, he’s teaching his child to abuse other people. It’s just really disturbing on a lot of different levels,” she said.
“Third Avenue on the Upper East Side should not be considered an unsafe place to be.”
Mensah’s rap sheet includes 11 arrests, including one in December when he allegedly struck a 68-year-old man in the face at 86th Street and Lexington Avenue — as he pushed the boy in a stroller, according to police sources and a criminal complaint.
In that case, he was charged with felony assault and endangering the welfare of a child, the complaint states.
Mensah told police that the victim was leaning against his child’s stroller, prompting him to lash out, according to the court filing.
He was ordered held on $1,500 bail — which he apparently posted — with his next court appearance in connection to that case scheduled for Monday.
Mensah’s arraignment in connection to the latest arrest was pending Friday.
