A madman randomly punched and choked a woman as she pushed a baby in a stroller in a Chelsea park Monday, and he then attacked another lady sitting on a nearby bench, cops and law-enforcement sources said.
“I am not letting go until police come! I want to die by police!” the suspect shouted as he choked the 43-year-old victim pushing the stroller — a crime caught on videotape, sources said.
The 33-year-old assailant was previously arrested 12 times, including for punching a doorman at a Midtown Manhattan building in August — an assault crime that was not eligible for bail, sources said.
He also has a psychiatric history and appeared to be emotionally disturbed at the time of Monday’s attack, sources said.
He was taken into custody at a nearby bus stop by officers patrolling the area and moved to Bellevue Hospital for mental observation before he was brought to the police station Monday evening, sources said.
He was charged with assault, menacing, obstructing breathing.
The lady with the baby stroller was struck in the face and choked around 1 p.m. at West 24th Street and 12th Avenue in Manhattan’s Hudson River Park, according to cops. The baby was not injured, sources said.
The man then grabbed a 37-year-old woman and held something metal to her neck, though the victim wasn’t sure what it was, sources said. He started uttering the same thing about police, according to sources.
The suspect shoved the woman to the ground from the bench she was sitting on when a bystander who saw the attack came over with the two dogs he was walking, police and sources said.
Both women were treated at the scene.