These coeds stick collectively.
An NYU pal of Amelia Lewis, the school scholar randomly assaulted whereas strolling to class this week, was herself attacked within the Huge Apple earlier this yr — and was the one who bought her palms on the viral video that helped cops nab her good friend’s alleged tormentor.
“Once I bought Amelia’s textual content, I used to be in school and felt sick,” scholar Summer season Armstrong mentioned throughout an unique interview with Sirius XM host Megyn Kelly on Wednesday. “This additionally occurred to me one, and I used to be fortunate sufficient to have footage.”
Armstrong mentioned she was the sufferer in an identical assault in Might, together with her assailant nonetheless on the unfastened.
“My assailant was by no means caught, however I knew footage is vital,” Armstrong advised Kelly. “My first thought was, ‘We want the footage, and we have to catch this man.’”
Armstrong, whose mother is associates with Kelly, mentioned she rushed to Warehouse Wine and Spirits on Broadway, close to the place Lewis was slapped within the butt and shoved her shortly earlier than 9:30 a.m. Monday.
“I walked in on FaceTime with Amelia,” she mentioned. “I mentioned, ‘My good friend was assaulted. Please verify your footage round this time.’ They usually discovered it.”
The footage went viral after it was posted on-line — together with by Kelly, a former Fox Information host — and helped cops determine ex-con James Rizzo, who was charged with persistent sexual abuse and forcible touching within the assault by police on Tuesday.
Rizzo, a serial offender concentrating on girls, was awaiting arraignment Wednesday evening.
“I had excessive hopes,” Lewis advised Kelly of cops arresting the suspect. “They had been sort and mentioned they had been already conscious of a person with a blue towel round his neck. However I believe your platform — and X — actually helped put strain on them. I don’t know if this might’ve gotten as a lot consideration with out that, or with out Summer season getting the footage.”
Rizzo was hit with a slew of different costs, too, after the NYPD picked him up for allegedly burglarizing a constructing close to Washington Sq. Park, together with for the alleged assault on Lewis and one other assault on a 68-year-old retired school professor from Texas visiting a good friend within the Huge Apple.
In that incident, Jana Dianne Brazell advised The Submit she was strolling again from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade final week when Rizzo bought in her face and scowled, “Our complete society is a f—ing joke.”
Rizzo then allegedly pushed her down, leaving her dazed and lower earlier than operating off.
“The subsequent factor I do know, I’m flying by the air and I hit this glass wall in conjunction with a constructing,” she mentioned.
Rizzo additionally faces an assault cost stemming from a Dec. 18, 2023, assault on a 59-year-old lady who was slapped within the face on Mercer Avenue close to West Third Avenue.
Data present that Rizzo, whose first bust was on an tried homicide rap when he was 17, was solely launched from state jail in September after a two-year sentence on a intercourse assault conviction.
Lewis, who posted a tearful account of the assault on-line Monday, advised Kelly she needed to place her story on the market to assist different girls who might face comparable assaults within the 5 boroughs.
“I needed to carry consciousness to what’s been taking place to younger girls in New York,” she mentioned throughout the Sirius XM interview. “On my TikTok I say, ‘I by no means thought this might occur to me.’ However it’s taking place on a regular basis.
“I needed to make use of my voice to assist different women keep protected and help women who’ve gone by the identical factor,” Lewis mentioned. “These tales occur again and again and over.”
