NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Former New York Senate candidate Maria Danzilo was sucker-punched by a stranger as she walked through Central Park on Wednesday afternoon.
Danzilo, 66, was walking her dog just before 2:30 p.m. at W. 81st Street and Central Park West when a man in his 20s came up to her, police said.
"He had kind of a vacant look on his face," Danzilo told 1010 WINS on Thursday. "My instinct was this person might be a little bit dangerous."
The man hit her hard in the upper arm.
"I think he probably was aiming for my chin or my face," she said. "I'm glad I turned away."
Danzilo shouted at the man as he attacked her in broad daylight.
"I yelled very loudly, 'You shouldn't hit women.' You know, 'Stop!'" she said.
After the assault, the man "kept walking as if nothing had happened," she added.
Danzilo and several witnesses called 911, and officers came to her aid.
After getting home and putting ice on her injury, Danzilo took to Twitter to recount what happened to her.
"Our once safe park & neighborhood has become terrifying," she wrote in one tweet. "Walking my dog in middle of day should not be filled with risk like this!"
No arrests had been reported in the assault as of Thursday.
