TIMES SQUARE — A panhandler punched a straphanger in the face and slammed his head into the wall of a subway stairwell after the man said he didn’t have any money, police said.
The victim, a 53-year-old man from Long Island — who police described as “highly intoxicated” — was walking down the stairs into the 1 train station at West 50th Street and Broadway around 4:10 a.m. on Feb. 12 when the panhandler approached him and asked him for cash, he told police.
When the straphanger rebuffed the request, the man punched him “repeatedly” in the face and slammed his head into the wall, lacerating the 53-year-old’s face and leaving him with neck pain, police said.
The panhandler also removed an unknown amount of cash from the 53-year-old’s pants pocket, according to police, before fleeing to “parts unknown,” police said.
EMS took the Long Island man to Bellevue Hospital, according to police.
Police have not made any arrests in the case, they said.
