Horrified women say men punched them in face, head in unprovoked, broad-daylight attacks on NYC streets this month

"I was literally just walking and a man came up and punched me in the face," influencer Halley Mcgookin said through tears in a now-viral Monday video describing an attack against her that had just taken place on a New York City street, Today reported. "Oh my God, it hurts so bad. I can't even talk."

Mcgookin added in the clip — which Today said has received over 35 million views — that she fell to the ground after the punch; she then pointed to a bump on the upper right side of her head, the outlet noted.

She's not alone.

A number of horrified women are saying that men have punched them this month in unprovoked, broad-daylight attacks on Manhattan streets.

Mcgookin — known online as Halley Kate — said in a follow-up video that she was walking on a sidewalk looking down at her phone to send an email when a man who was walking his dog punched her, Today reported: “There was so much room on the sidewalk, literally nobody was around, and I guess this man — I don’t know if he punched me or elbowed me. I literally passed out, so I don’t really remember."

She added that when she tried to get up, the man was “screaming” at her before she ran away, the outlet reported.

NBC News noted that videos of women reporting similar attacks have picked up in the last week: One woman said she was attacked walking home from class; another while on her way to work; still another while she was walking her dog.

The news network added that a police spokesperson declined to answer whether the attacks reflect an uptick in violent crime against women in the city or whether the police department is taking any additional measures to ensure their safety.

NBC News reported that a 25-year-old woman said she was walking out of the Times Square subway station on 7th Avenue and West 42nd Street Saturday when a man punched her in the head. The victim told the news network that she captured video of the man as he was walking away, and police publicized in a poster that the suspect was wanted for assault.

The woman said on TikTok the "traumatic" experience will stick with her the "rest of [her] life," NBC News added: "We are always cautious about walking at night, now we have to be cautious about walking in broad daylight."

'Out of nowhere'

The news network also said Mikayla Toninato — a Parsons fashion design student — also shared a TikTok video saying she was punched in the face while leaving class in Manhattan as she was looking down at her phone and texting.

“Out of nowhere this man just came up and hit me in the face," she said in the clip with a bruise visible under one of her eyes, according to NBC News.

“He hit me right on my cheekbone," Toninato told the "Today" show Thursday, according to NBC News. "This doesn’t hurt as bad as the concussion does." She added that emotionally "it's been really really hard. I think it hits me in waves. A lot of crying because it’s been really scary."

Another woman reported getting punched by a man who apologized before he hit her, the news network said.

“I literally just got punched by some man on the sidewalk,” she said in a TikTok video, NBC News reported. “He goes ‘sorry’ and then punches me in the head.”

Police told the news network the attack took place around 11:48 a.m. March 17 while a woman was walking her dog in the area of Kenmare and Mulberry Streets and that "no injuries were reported as a result of this incident."

NBC News said the woman in an update posted to her TikTok account added: “I wasn’t looking down at my phone. I was just literally across the street from my building walking my dog to the dog park. I had seen the man. He was, like, slightly walking toward me, and I didn’t think anything of it. And then he says, ‘sorry,’ and hits me and was immediately gone.”

'I got attacked from behind'

The news network added that Sarah Harvard, 30, posted Tuesday on X that she was walking near the Delancey Street and Essex Street station on the Lower East Side when she was punched in the back of the head March 19.

“I was not on my phone. I was walking somewhere, and I got attacked from behind,” she told NBC News. “So it’s really violating that I didn’t see it coming, and there was nothing I could’ve done, really, to prevent it from happening.”

Harvard added to the news network that since the attack, she's felt a “spiky pain, throbbing feeling” in her head and experienced nausea, headaches, dizziness, and blurred vision.

More from NBC News:

Harvard said she initially didn’t go to the police because she thought that it was an isolated incident, and that officials might brush it off. Since she learned that more women have come forward online to say they’ve been assaulted, she said, she plans to file a police report.

Since the attack, Harvard said, she is struggling with feeling unsafe in the city she calls home.

“What’s really unbearable is that general, never-ending feeling now of feeling unsafe and feeling constantly alert, constantly looking over my shoulder,” she told the news network. “This anxiety is manifesting physically, too. I slept last night for two hours; the night before, I slept for four hours. I’m having trouble breathing, and my chest is getting really tight.”

An arrest

NBC News, citing police, said 40-year-old Skiboky Stora of Brooklyn was arrested Wednesday on an assault charge. The attack for which the news outlet said Stora was arrested is the same attack Today reported in reference to Mcgookin.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Image source: YouTube screenshot

More from NBC News:

Stora has sought public office in New York since 2021, public records show. He participated in a New York City mayoral debate in 2021. In 2022, he filed a handwritten petition to get on the ballot for New York governor. Last year, records show, Stora ran for the District 9 seat on the New York City Council.

WABC-TV said Stora has multiple TikTok accounts showing him "aggressively approaching police and strangers, many of them women," and that he's being held on $10,000 bail.

NBC News added that Stora and the suspect wanted in connection with the Saturday assault outside the Times Square subway station do not appear to be the same person.

This story has been updated.

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