Elderly victim shoved by brute 'fearful to walk the streets alone'
The 92-year-old woman who was shoved into a fire hydrant in a random attack on a Manhattan street last week told The Post Tuesday that the ambush has taken a psychological toll on her — and she now fears walking alone in her neighborhood.
“Mostly I’m shaken. My head still hurts where it was bleeding, where I hit the hydrant — or where he hit me, I don’t know,” elderly victim Geraldine said in an exclusive phone interview, asking that her last name be withheld for safety reasons.
“Mainly it’s psychological — just the fear of going out on the street,” she added.
Geraldine, a Bronx native who has lived in Manhattan for more than 50 years, said she was on her way to Duane Reade when 31-year-old Rashid Brimmage allegedly shoved her to the ground near Third Avenue and East 16th Street Gramercy Park last Friday afternoon.
Geraldine hit her head on a fire hydrant and started bleeding, she said. A passerby saw the assault, called 911 and an ambulance rushed her to nearby Beth Israel Hospital, she said.
The former teacher said her physical wounds were relatively minor and have since healed — but the mental toll has been much more severe.
“This damned guy put me in a state where I’m fearful to walk the streets alone. So my super’s trying to find somebody who will walk me to a park nearby or to the supermarket, that kind of thing. So that’s the problem,” she said.
Cops busted Brimmage for the caper Tuesday after investigators released footage of the attack.
Brimmage, who lives in a Bronx homeless shelter, is a convicted sex offender with 101 prior arrests, police sources said.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy