MIDTOWN — An attacker hit a 71-year-old Park Avenue resident in the face with a rock, threatened to kill a security guard and shattered a pedestrian’s cellphone in the course of less than an hour, the NYPD and a complaint filed with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said.
Jason Atkinson, 45, first got into an argument with a 57-year-old security guard who was on duty outside 767 Fifth Ave. around 4:10 p.m. on July 7, police and the complaint said.
At some point during the exchange, Atkinson, 45, swung his fist at the guard, took a glass liquor bottle out of his pocket and pointed it at him, the complaint said.
“I’m going to kill you,” Atkinson said, according to the complaint. “I’m going to come back tomorrow with a gun.”
Twenty minutes later, a 71-year-old Park Avenue resident was walking near the northwest corner of East 58th Street and Madison Avenue when Atkinson pushed a rock into her face, police and the DA’s office said.
The attack left the woman’s face bruised and swollen, the complaint said.
Five minutes after he attacked the woman, Atkinson approached another woman on that corner, grabbed the cellphone she was holding and threw it to the ground, shattering the screen, the DA’s office said.
Atkinson was arrested and charged with two counts of assault, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal mischief, aggravated harassment, attempted assault and harassment, the DA’s office said.
He is currently being held at the Manhattan Detention Complex on $1,000 bail and is expected to appear in court on Aug. 10, city Department of Correction records show.
Atkinson’s attorney declined to comment on his arrest.
