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A deranged homeless man who terrorized the Upper West Side in a series of unprovoked attacks is finally behind bars, after pummeling nearly half a dozen unsuspecting victims in just one day, police said.
Elkin Ortiz, 27, was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with the broad daylight assaults that began around 11:10 a.m. m. Friday on West 65th Street near Central Park West and continued for several hours, police said.
Ortiz had been out of state prison for less than a month and was still on probation for an assault conviction in May 2021 when he carried out the series of assaults, two of which have been classified as hate crimes by the federal law. police, records show.
In the first attack on Friday, police said they approached a 27-year-old man and hit him several times in the right ear before running away.
Ortiz allegedly first targeted a 27-year-old man on West 65th Street near Central Park West on the Upper West Side.
Victim
The victim was taken to Mount Sinai West Hospital for treatment for multiple facial fractures and is listed in stable condition.
But about 20 minutes later, Ortiz allegedly hit a 35-year-old man who was walking on West Drive in Central Park, police said.
But he wasn’t finished.
Police said he also allegedly slapped a 26-year-old woman across the lips as she walked across the Bow Bridge in the park about 10 minutes later.
While the two Central Park victims are white, authorities did not have details on the exact circumstances that turned the attacks into hate crimes.
During his spree, Ortiz also allegedly punched a 32-year-old man in the face, causing his nose to bleed, in a random attack on Fifth Avenue and East 79th Street on the Upper East Side, police said.
Police say Ortiz also punched a 23-year-old man waiting for a northbound train at 66th Street and Broadway in another unprovoked attack from the Upper West Side.
The victim was left with a small laceration, police said.
Arrested and charged
Police said Ortiz was charged with assault in all five incidents, two of them classified as hate crimes.
Records show that he had already served more than a year behind bars in connection with a second-degree assault conviction in May 2021.
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He was released on Aug. 16, and his post-release supervision will expire in 2024, state Department of Correction records show.
His new arrest comes amid a worrying rise in random attacks in the Big Apple.
The same day police arrested Ortiz, another homeless vagrant was accused of punching a 71-year-old cancer survivor and throwing a bottle that hit a 1-year-old in the head on the Upper East Side.
Police said Antonio Marquez was surrounded by the baby’s father and several neighborhood bouncers until cops arrived and arrested him.
On Monday, an unidentified brute hit a teenage boy in the face with a brick in Chelsea, landing the innocent victim in hospital, police said.
