A homeless vagrant went off the rails on the Upper East Side Wednesday, slugging a 71-year-old cancer survivor and striking a 1-year-old girl in the head with a bottle before good Samaritans stepped in and held him for cops.
The crazed suspect, identified by police as Antonio Marquez, 53, allegedly went on his rampage on Third Avenue — and is now charged with felony assault.
“We crossed Third Avenue and all of a sudden a bottle gets thrown at my 1-year-old,” said Robert Fitch, who said his 13-month-old daughter, Leona, was struck by the projectile.
“I heard it hit her head,” Fitch said. “It was a water bottle or soda bottle. My wife was pushing the stroller, so I handed her off to my wife. One of the doormen and I confronted the guy and were like, ‘What’s your deal?’ He put up his dukes up and tried to fight me.”
But Fitch said several doormen from the area came to his aid and surrounded the brute, holding him there until police showed up and put the handcuffs on him.
He said Leona was not seriously hurt.
The frightening incident began at about 10:50 am when Marquez went up to a 71-year-old woman, who doormen said was a cancer survivor, and punched her, witnesses said.
Marquez had already chased another man, but failed to catch up to him, using a racial slur before he turned on the innocent victims.
“I was talking with my friend and we saw the guy across the avenue arguing with another guy,” said doorman Fernando Ortega. “They ran straight down and we didn’t pay attention until he punched the old lady and she fell. She was walking toward him and he was walking toward her, and he just punched her in the face.
“Then he picked up a bottle and threw it at a little baby,” Ortega said. “After that we all got together and cornered the guy until the police came.”
He said Marquez pleaded, “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I just want to go to the train.”
Another doorman, Mike Lombardi, said the elderly victim is a cancer survivor “who was coming back from rehab” when she was slugged.
“She managed to get up and make it over here,” Lombardi said.
Meanwhile, little Leona’s dad said similar violent encounters with the city homeless have become all too common in the Big Apple.
“It’s wild,” Fitch said. “Every since they started pushing them out of the subway we have seen more and more homeless guys in this area. Up until a year ago we really didn’t see that many.”