ANOTHER UNPROVOKED ATTACK IN NYC ON A SMALL CHILD

9-year-old tourist sucker-punched in random NYC assault, hero doorman stops suspect from fleeing 

 

By Craig McCarthy, Larry Celona, Haley Brown and Ben Kesslen

 

New York Post

March 21, 2022

Portrait of The Plaza Hotel doorman Neil Johnson, 60, who intervened when a man allegedly assaulted a 9-year-old girl visiting from Miam. Johnson said he saw the poor girl holding her head and clearly in pain

 

A 9-year-old girl from Miami visiting the Big Apple with her mom was ‘sucker-punched’ in the head Monday while walking near Central Park — and a doorman at The Plaza made sure the assailant couldn’t flee before cops showed up.

Suspect Raheem Ramsarran, 27, allegedly punched the young tourist in the left side of her head at around 11:20 a.m. on the corner of Central Park South and Grand Army Plaza, police sources said.

“We saw a man with a backpack, a red hoodie and a beige jacket screaming at people and people literally running away from him and he was just like yelling,” said Kimberly Thomas, 24, who was working at a nearby COVID-19 testing booth Monday morning when the assault happened.

 

Suspect Raheem Ramsarran allegedly punched the young girl in the left side of her head on the corner of Central Park South and Grand Army Plaza

 

Neil Johnson, 60, was at his job as a doorman at The Plaza Hotel Monday when he heard the suspect yelling and ran to the scene to help.

“I saw the woman crying and they’re running away from this guy and he’s walking fast toward them. So got to do something,” he told the Post. “I got in between them and this crazy guy. And then another guy joined me, who apparently saw the whole thing happened. So we just made sure that this person couldn’t go.”

Johnson said he saw the poor girl holding her head and clearly in pain. He called the cops while he was trying to make sure the suspect didn’t attack her again.

The girl was treated on the scene, complaining of pain on the left side of her head. Her mom, Yelena Contreras Molerio, 36, declined the offer for her kid to receive further medical treatment, police said. The girl’s name is unknown. The Post was unable to reach Contreras Molerio on Monday.

Cops said Ramsarran was apprehended at 30 Central Park South about 15 minutes after the alleged assault. He was taken to Midtown North precinct and is currently in custody.

“After he realized he couldn’t go any further, we weren’t going to let him, he stayed there and started yelling, ‘Where are the cops? Where are the cops?’” Johnson said.

The suspect’s yelling was largely unintelligible and sounded like angry noises, Thomas said. 

“I thought he was chasing someone. I didn’t know he hit someone,” she said. 

The motive for the alleged attack was unclear as of Monday afternoon, and it was witnesses who called the police after seeing the unprovoked punch.

Ahmed Ahmed, 41, who operates a food cart on the corner of Grand Army Plaza and Central Park South, saw the incident but he didn’t describe the contact as a sucker punch. 

“I seen this guy he had a bag and he ran into a small girl,” Ahmed said while making a pushing motion.

Amhed saw the alleged suspect “push the girl on the ground and then run” but said it all happened so fast he might not have the fullest picture.

Ramsarran’s last known address is in Harlem.

Police sources said that cops were called to Ramsarran’s previous Queens address in 2018 and again in 2019 for reports of an emotionally disturbed person, and that he told responding officers he was not on medication. On one occasion he said he felt suicidal and wanted to be hospitalized, they said.

Johnson told the Post it seemed “pretty clear” the suspect was suffering from mental health issues. In his 24 years working at the Plaza, he said he’s never seen something like the Monday morning punch.

“There’s always been fights and stuff like that but nothing that disturbing. This was just off the charts as far as sanity goes,” he said, adding that the city needs more hospitals to treat people suffering from mental illness. 

When a Post reporter told him the girl was in town from Miami, he responded: “That little girl is never going to want to come to New York City ever again.

“She’s not going to be ok. She’s traumatized. Can you imagine?”