Daquan Armstead NYC man charged in serial attacks against 8 random women with defense lawyer stating he suffers from mental health issues as he now faces hate crimes charges for specifically targeting women.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting no less than eight random women in New York City in a string of incidents described by police as hate crimes.
Daquan Armstead, 31, is accused of striking women in the face, back and head during random attacks in March and April.
All 8 women all reported they were attacked by an individual unknown to them.
‘Men don’t test you like women…’
The attacks against the women involved victims ranging in age from their early 20s to 40s who all reported similar encounters with the man according to the nypost.
Asked why the assailant specifically targeted women, Amrstead is alleged to have told cops, ‘It’s different with men.’
Adding, ‘They don’t test you like women.’
Armstead was picked up by cops shortly after midnight and charged with third-degree assault and harassment in eight unprovoked attacks on women this year, authorities said.
Armstead faces charges of hate crime/assault, attempted hate crime/assault and aggravated harassment, a New York Police Department spokesperson said.
All of the alleged attacks occurred in the neighbourhoods of Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, Tribeca and the Bowery, police say.
Armstead, who was also sought on two arrest warrants after failing to appear for mandated court appearances dating to 2021 attacks, was first arrested in Februarybefore going on to allegedly attack seven more women after a Manhattan judge cut him loose without bail, prosecutors said in court according to the nypost.
During a Wednesday court appearance, Armstead’s lawyer stated his client suffering from mental health issues.
‘He seems to have fallen through the cracks, in regards to no longer receiving mental health treatment,’ defense attorney Katherine Bajuk said in court.
‘When someone with a mental health concern is incarcerated, nothing good happens with anybody,’ she told Judge Michael Ryan. ‘The person becomes less commented with services they need, and the outcome for everyone and everything is worse.’
Of disconcert, have been more than 96 unprovoked assaults on people in Manhattan, including 50 on women, so far this year, according to police figures cited by NBC News.
It comes amid a spate of unprovoked attacks against women that have been documented in a series of viral videos on social media.
‘I literally just got punched by some man on the sidewalk,” one victim recalled in a viral video posted last month.
‘He goes ‘sorry’ and then punches me in the head.’
Armstead is the third person to be arrested so far in connection to the recent spate of attacks against women in NYC.
Police have asked that any other victims come forward to share details of their attacks.
Armstead was ordered held on bail of $20,000 bail along with being mandated to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
