NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A 17-year-old Tennessee boy who was visiting Central Park with his parents on Wednesday afternoon was punched in the face at random by a man who ran off after the attack, police said.
The tourists were walking to the park at the corner of Central Park West and W. 66th Street around 12:30 p.m. when a man came up and punched the boy in his face.
The family told police there was no dispute beforehand and the attack was entirely unprovoked.
The boy suffered minor injuries to his nose and was transported to Lenox Hill Hospital.
The assailant, who’s believed to be homeless, fled east on W. 65th Street and remained at large Thursday.
The teen, Caleb Chittom, and his father, Thom Chittom, spoke out on 1010 WINS’ Newsline With Brigitte Quinn on Thursday.
Caleb said he planned to do some sketches in the park and was at a crosswalk when “all of the sudden someone comes up to me and punches me.”
His parents were behind him and didn’t realize at first what had happened.
“I actually didn’t see the punch happen, I saw him fall,” Thom said. “My wife saw the punch. She started yelling, and we of course ran forward. Both of us were kind of afraid he was going to be hit by a vehicle, because he fell in the street.”
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The parents then saw blood coming from their son’s nose.
“I tried to remain calm while I was gushing out blood,” Caleb said.
Good Samaritans immediately helped the family. One man called 911 as another gave Caleb tissues for his nose. Someone else attempted to follow the attacker to try to get a photo of him.
“It just seems like people surrounded us right away and just really took over and helped us handle that situation, because we were just concerned for our son,” Thom said.
Caleb had a black eye and a few cuts on his nose Thursday, but he said he’s recovering well.
The attack hasn’t turned the Chittoms off to New York City.
“Every time I’ve been here, everyone’s always been so nice,” Thom said. “We would totally come back again, especially now that we’ve seen how kind people have been to us.”
The assault came just days after a tourist who turned down a group’s offer of sex and drugs was robbed, slashed and beaten with a bottle in Times Square.
A day after that, a knife-wielding man menaced children at the Central Park Carousel before he was arrested and later released without bail.
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