After Media Furor, NYC Sucker Puncher Is In Jail at Request of Gov. Kathy Hochul: ‘I Took Action’
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) said Friday she demanded the arrest of a man who allegedly sucker-punched and left an innocent victim comatose in New York City.
He is in custody, according to a report.
A man identified as 55-year-old Bui Van Phu was caught on video this past week allegedly striking a 52-year-old man after first putting on gloves.
BREAKING UPDATE — ‘I took action in my own hands’: Suspect in unprovoked Bronx punch back in custody at Hochul’s ‘direction’ https://t.co/FEM0qFz4Ry pic.twitter.com/eazt77EI66
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) August 19, 2022
The victim remains in a coma with a cracked skull. Van Phu was arrested and initially charged with attempted murder.
The charge was downgraded by prosecutors to misdemeanor assault and harassment. Phu was released without bail. Video of the attack has gone viral – leading to backlash from local and national media outlets.
Hochul said Friday afternoon at a press conference not related to the attack she ordered Phu to be arrested, and he was taken into custody.
Phu was convicted of sexually abusing a teen girl in 1994 and Hochul argued the attack violates the terms of his lifetime parole.
The New York Post reported:
Bui Van Phu, 55, was picked up after state officials contacted “the Bronx District Attorney’s Office to talk about the actual charges that were filed because … we want to make sure that our laws are being properly executed,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
“But I took action in my own hands,” Hochul told reporters during an unrelated news conference on Long Island.
Hochul also told reporters, “This is a person on lifetime parole, and as of minutes ago, that person is now in custody. That is at my direction.”
As WABC reported, the attack was unprovoked:
It happened just before 11 p.m. outside the Fuego Tipico Restaurant on East 188th Street in the Fordham Heights. Surveillance video shows the 52-year-old victim, Jesus Cortez, exiting the restaurant and engaging a group of men and women.
Another man is then seen putting on a pair of gloves before sucker punching the victim, knocking him to the ground, unconscious and unresponsive.
