The Manhattan mom brutally attacked by a crazed criminal as she pushed her tot in a stroller described the horrifying ordeal to The Post on Tuesday — and demanded to know why the suspect was even on the streets.
“I thought I was going to die because he was choking me at one point,” said the 43-year-old mother of two, who was with her 2-year-old daughter when she was suddenly randomly assaulted in Hudson River Park in Chelsea on Monday.
“I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get out,’’ said the mom, an adjunct professor at a city college who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“I don’t want to be here anymore,” added the woman, who has been in the city off and on for about 20 years. “I want to leave. This doesn’t feel safe. Since the pandemic, everything has changed in this area.
“My daughter is 2 years old, and she’s sitting there in silence as the guy is choking me and punching me and saying, ‘F–k the NYPD,’ “ said the married mom, who also has a 4-month-old daughter.
“He said something to me like, ‘I’m sorry. I just want to die by suicide by cop.’ I was like, ‘You don’t have to do this.’ “
Police said Argenis Rivera, a 33-year-old career criminal with at least a dozen arrests on his rap sheet, committed the brazen broad-daylight attack — and even slugged and choked a second woman at the park moments later.
He has a history of psychiatric issues and was initially taken to Bellevue Hospital for a mental exam, law-enforcement sources said.
The sources said Rivera was last arrested in August, when he allegedly slugged a doorman in Midtown Manhattan — but was released because the charges are not eligible for bail under the state’s controversial criminal-justice reforms.
On Monday, he allegedly assaulted both women as they lounged at the Chelsea park and was arrested at a nearby bus stop after a brief struggle with police.
“I think it’s really messed up that he’s still out there, and I don’t know what’s going on in the city,” said the injured mom, whose nose was bruised in the attack.
“I thought it would get better with [Mayor Eric] Adams, but it doesn’t seem to be getting better,’’ she said. “I just don’t think the [police] patrolling is enough, the outreach for mentally ill people is enough.
“This was right around 12:45 on a weekday when I was attacked,” she added. “There was no police presence. … I didn’t think in this area I would have this problem. They should be around.
“If they were more present, maybe I wouldn’t have been in a chokehold for that long or maybe he wouldn’t have tried it.”
A witness filmed her being attacked, capturing her screams for help, and gave her the footage, she said.
She said the suspect followed her after the assault and called her a “white bitch.’’
“I know people who live in Harlem who are like ‘I don’t want to go to your area. Your area is too sketchy for me,’ “ the woman lamented.
She said she regularly takes her 2-year-old daughter to the park — but is not so sure about doing that anymore.
“This is a park I go to twice a week with my kid to get her fresh air,” she said. “Now I don’t know if I want to go back there.”
Cops said the attacks on both women were unprovoked.
“It was so wild that it was surreal,” the second victim told The Post on Tuesday. “I was confused. And then I just couldn’t believe that that was happening. It felt surreal the whole time.
“He choked me and tried to harm me with his keys and punched me,” the 37-year-old victim said, also asking to remain anonymous. “I’m still a little shell-shocked.
“When he had his keys to my throat, he said, ‘I don’t give a f–k,’ “ she recalled. “ ‘Call the cops. F–k gentrification. F–k that white bitch.’ “
The woman said she was “reading on the lawn” at the park when she first saw the mom attacked nearby.
“When he was yelling at the woman, and she was running away, I thought maybe he was just having an episode and she just happened to walk in his path,” she said. “I didn’t realize that she was also assaulted right before.
“And then he just came up behind me and choked me and held keys to my throat,” she said. “And now I know they’re keys, but I couldn’t see them. And he did the same thing, I guess, he did to her, which was punch me.”
She said a good Samaritan who was walking his dogs in the park came to her aid after seeing the attack unfold.
She described the dog walker as a “really kind man.
“I saw this guy coming with the dogs,” she recalled. “He just looked at me, and he was very kind and said, ‘I got you. Don’t worry, I got you.’
“He starts yelling at the guy, and the guy is backing away, but he’s still screaming. He’s really unwell. He was very angry.”
She said the dog walker told her to call 911.
“I hadn’t even thought of it,” she said.
When cops showed up minutes later, she “just saw them descend on [the attacker], and he was resisting arrest,” she said.
Rivera was charged with assault, strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing, menacing and weapons possession.
He was awaiting arraignment late Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore and Amanda Woods
