Mother Brutally Attacked By Stranger While Sitting At Red Light
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD wants your help identifying a man who attacked a woman in her car waiting at a red light.
The incident happened on April 18 at 9:50 p.m. on West 166 Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights.
The 37-year-old victim was sitting in her car when a man walked up carrying a stick. He smashed open her window and then beat her with the stick, police said.
The woman was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital with head injuries.
CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis spoke exclusively with the victim Wednesday.
With her eye stitched up and swollen shut, Ana Hernandez spoke through a translator and lingering pain.
"When she goes home, she can't sleep. She has nightmares now. Her head it feels like it's going to explode from all the pain," neighbor Jonathan Lopez said on her behalf.
The mother of three was heading home from work when she was hit in the face with something that felt like a pipe.
"It was horrible. It was real painful. All I saw was a lot of blood. She got out of the car and she was on the floor for a little bit. Luckily, there was a guy on a bicycle and she asked for help from that guy," said Lopez.
Hernandez believes the Good Samaritan saved her life, because he stopped the attacker from hitting her again. The suspect eventually ran off.
"She didn't know the guy at all. All she wants to do is warn everybody she's a mother, she works really hard just to feed her family and she shouldn't have to be scared to go out at night just because some random guy wants to just attack women for no reason," Lopez said.
The suspect was wearing a camouflage jacket with an orange skull on the back, blue jeans and orange sneakers, police said.
"I'd be in shock. I'd be surprised. I'd probably be in attack mode," New Jersey resident Denise Ramos told DeAngelis. "I've haven't heard of anything like that anywhere. That guy must have been crazy... I make sure my car doors are locked, and I'm busy trying to focus on where I've got to go."
That's the mentality of most drivers, especially when it's dark out, DeAngelis reported.
"I live over here. You don't hear about that - especially to a lady?" one area said. "Who comes up to somebody's window and just beats them with a stick? That's not what people do. That's not cool at all."
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-800-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via the Crime Stoppers website, or text a tip to CRIMES (274637) and then entering TIP577.
All calls are kept confidential.