'This Can't Keep Happening:' Couple Says They Were Attacked By Stranger While Celebrating Anniversary In NYC
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An anniversary trip turned into a nightmare visit to New York City after a couple says they were attacked by a stranger while walking near Times Square.
His bruised eyes and swollen jaw only begin to tell the story of the savage beating 35-year-old Jeremy Goldberg took Tuesday night while celebrating his 10th wedding anniversary with his wife.
"It's terrible," he told CBS2's Scott Rapaport. "It's a terrible way to feel."
Goldberg and his wife Paola, restaurant owners from West Orange, New Jersey, had just spent the evening seeing the Broadway hit "Dear Evan Hansen" at the Music Box Theater near Times Square.
That's when Goldberg said out of nowhere, a 6'5" tall man approached them, spit in his wife's face and then started pounding Jeremy about the head.
"Took his hands up and before any of us knew what was happening, just kept going back and forth, back and forth straight to my face," he said.
Goldberg said the attack was completely random and unprovoked.
"He just kept repeating, 'It's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault," he said.
"Did you have any idea what he meant?" Rapaport asked.
"No, I don't really have any idea," Goldberg replied.
Despite plenty of bystanders and his wife's cries for help, no one intervened.
"It seems to be normal, and I think that's the scariest part of this," said Goldberg.
That's a sobering thought for the New Jersey native who just recently moved back after living in Florida for years.
"There was a noticeable difference when we got here. First, it was the excess of homeless people," Goldberg said. "Then, you started seeing people shooting heroin in the street, and this was pretty much the extreme – to get attacked randomly."
He said the attacker bolted from the scene on West 35th Street, but that he and his wife followed him from a distance and then called 911.
Police arrested the man, 40-year-old Derrick Boyce, on West 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue about 10 minutes later. Cops say he has a rap sheet with 12 prior arrests, most recently for attempted robbery in November.
"Well it's scary, for sure. The idea that that could happen," one theater-goer said.
"It makes me sick to my stomach," said another.
CBS2's Political Reporter Marcia Kramer raised the issue of safety concerns with Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday, pointing out there are many people with multiple-arrest records walking among us.
"We need to achieve public safety while achieving fairness," he replied.
Police sources tell CBS2 the Times Square/Theater District area is among the most well-policed in the city that gets even greater attention, because theaters are considered a soft terror target.
When CBS2's Ali Bauman sat down with NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan earlier this month, he said the current strategy is neighborhood policing, in which the same cops regularly patrol the same blocks.
"If there's someone that's local to an area, they're there all the time, our cops are going to know who he is and we're going to try and get him services too, before he acts out," Monahan said.
Midtown commuters told Bauman they want to see even more patrol.
"It's not as safe as much as it used to be," one woman said. "I don't feel safe in this area."
"They're saying crime statistics are down, but you have random attacks going on. So what are we doing?" a man wondered.
"I don't see one cop on one, two, three, four blocks," said another.
Meantime, Goldberg spent the night in a hospital and was treated for a concussion along with his facial injuries.
"There's really nothing you can do about it," he said. "There's no way we could've better protected ourselves by being cognizant of our surroundings. There was really nothing that we could do."
He added he won't be coming back to Manhattan for a while.
"This can't keep happening. You can't just have someone beat random people up on the street and get away," he said.
Boyce was charged with assault. He was held without bail.