Amelia Lewis NYU student assaulted by James Rizzo NYC serial creep with history of 16 prior arrests including sexual assault, targeting women.
A serial abuser targeting young women on the streets of NYC has been arrested after surveillance video showed the homeless suspect groping a NYU student on Monday.
James Rizzo, a 45-year-old homeless man with 16 prior arrests, including for sexual abuse and forcible touching — was charged Tuesday evening after shoving college student Amelia Lewis to the ground in Lower Manhattan.
Captured footage showed Rizzo following the young woman as she walked down Broadway near NYU campus before the man violently slapping her on the buttocks from behind, grabbing her hair and throwing her to the ground before running off.
🇺🇸 SHOCKING NYC SIDEWALK ATTACK ON NYU STUDENT SPARKS OUTRAGE OVER CITY SAFETY🚨
NYU student Amelia Lewis, 20, was violently slapped and shoved to the ground by a vagrant in a random Manhattan attack caught on CCTV.
The suspect, described as a tall white male, was later… pic.twitter.com/4s3LN3bLiK
— Info Room (@InfoR00M) December 3, 2025
Serial creep had been physically assaulting and forcibly touching other women near campus
‘When I turned around, I saw this old, White guy and, like right when I turned around, he like grabbed my f—- hair like this and like yanked me and threw me to the ground,’ said Lewis in shared video at handle @amelia.lewis16.
A group of girls is then seen in the footage helping her up after she was knocked off her feet.
Lewis said the surveillance video was obtained by a friend of hers from a nearby liquor store. She described the assailant as a tall man with long brown hair and a long brown beard, wearing gray sweatpants, a black puffer jacket and a blue towel around his neck.
The college student said she sent the video to NYU security, who forwarded the footage to police.
Rizzo upon his arrest was booked on charges of persistent sexual abuse, forcible touching and assault charges for the Monday morning random attack on the 20-year-old, cops said.
NYU student assault pic.twitter.com/LxFhzmiafM
— Amelia Lewis (@AmeliaLewi33832) December 1, 2025
James Rizzo had recently been released from prison for previous for sexual abuse
Rizzo’s arrest follows the serial abuser according to Lewis in shared video of the assault, being known around campus for assaulting ‘many girls.’
The serial abuser was brought in after he was arrested for burglarizing an apartment near Washington Square Park a day after Rizzo physically assaulting the NYU student.
Along with assault charges, Rizzo was charged with four burglaries allegedly committed in the same building — three of which happened as residents inside were sleeping, the nypost reported citing police.
‘The University is pleased that a suspect has been apprehended in the attack on one of its students that took place Monday morning on a Broadway sidewalk. We take this incident very seriously,’ said NYU spokesperson John Beckman in a released statement. ‘We are continuing to offer support to the student, and our Campus Safety Department assisted the victim and worked with the police investigating the incident.’
The serial abuser’s arrest comes mere months after being released from state prison in September after being sentenced to two years behind bars on a persistent sexual abuse conviction, online correction records show.
A young woman’s ‘scariest experience’
Rizzo’s lengthy rap sheet includes charges that he grabbed a 33-year-old woman’s breasts on Green Street in Manhattan on Dec. 27, 2023, telling his female victim, ‘Oh, you want more?’, according to law enforcement sources.
Lewis warned other women at the university to be careful and aware while walking around the city.
‘That was honestly like the scariest experience of my life,’ she said. ‘I never thought this was going to happen to me just cuz I’ve seen the stories, and I was like, oh that’s so scary, but having it actually happen now, it’s like oh my god.’
‘I just really want to emphasize how not ok this is,’ the victim said after the attack. ‘I’m honestly still in shock, but I’m more enraged that things like this are able to happen in this city, and we really need to do something about it because this is unacceptable.’
