By Della Hasselle and Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A half-naked, emotionally disturbed man attacked a cyclist riding on the Queensboro Bridge early Friday morning, sending him to the hospital with a split lip, police said.
Police said the shirtless, 65-year-old man, who was running in the bike lane on the bridge's lower level, attacked the 35-year-old cyclist and hit him in the face, knocking him from his bike at 6:44 a.m. on Friday.
The biker was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center with a split lip, and the alleged attacker was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center for psychiatric evaluation, according to the NYPD.
An MTA supervisor at the scene said the incident caused 25 to 30 minutes of delays as police apprehended the suspect at about 7 a.m.
Astoria resident A. Leeting, 58, who was waiting for the bus into Manhattan on Friday afternoon, said he was on his way to a doctor's appointment in the city when he heard about the news. Rather than brave the traffic, he moved his appointment to later in the day.
“I said to myself, ‘who knows how long it’s going to be?" Leeting recalled. "But it’s New York. I wasn’t that shocked by it.”
