Man Who Claims To Have Been Victim Of Hell's Kitchen Attack Says He's Perplexed By NYPD's Investigation
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man who says he was attacked by a stranger spoke out on Wednesday. He said he was seriously injured after being punched in the face, but police have offered little help.
The assault happened back on Dec. 12 and the NYPD still have no leads. The victim said he was walking under scaffolding near 43rd Street and Ninth Avenue in Hell's kitchen when someone punched him in the face, adding he started gushing blood and was rushed to the hospital, CBS2's Christina Fan reported.
"The guy just like punched me here. I kind of fell down a little bit. He just looked at me," Yevgeniy Rikhterman said.
The 34-year-old provided a photo of what he looked like after he underwent facial reconstructive surgery.
Rikhterman told CBS2 several bones in his face were broken, but the real hurt came when he called police a few days later and found out his case had been closed. He said he was not given an explanation why.
"They don't care. This is their job and it feels like they are trying to just close the case because they have other things to do? I don't know why, but it feels like this doesn't matter," Rikhterman said.
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Rikhterman said he got officers to reopen the case, but then found out the detective assigned to it was out of the office. When he last called for an update on Monday, three weeks after the assault, police told him they had nothing.
"I expected them to do something. I expected them to look at the video," Rikhterman said. "At the end of the day, if on Monday, the detective would have said, 'Hey, we looked. We couldn't find anything. We are sorry," I probably would've been okay. It is what it is. But when on Monday I had to tell them about the video cameras and everything, it was very upsetting."
Rikhterman said there was also a witness who saw the attack and police have not reached out to that person, either. He said he is concerned the longer the investigation takes, the greater the chance evidence like surveillance video might be erased.
An NYPD spokesman told CBS2 the investigation is ongoing and all investigative steps are being taken.
CBS2's Christina Fan contributed to this report