BY YANNIC RACK |
A career criminal was arrested in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday after he allegedly knocked out a tourist and fractured his skull in The Battery when the man refused to buy tickets to the Statue of Liberty, police say.
Police caught Brooklyn resident Robert Andersen, 25, early on Wednesday in the confines of the First Precinct, according to the NYPD.
He was charged with felony assault for punching the 33-year-old victim in the face around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, causing him to lose consciousness and strike his head on the pavement, fracturing his skull, police say.
The unlucky visitor is Arkansas native William White, who was at the Whitehall Ferry terminal with his wife, The New York Post reported.
White was initially approached by Andersen’s girlfriend, who was hawking tickets and tried to sell him passes to see Lady Liberty, according to a source familiar with the case.
White declined and got into an altercation with the woman, and was then slugged by Andersen, according to the source.
White fell backward and cracked his head on the sidewalk, suffering a concussion and losing consciousness. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is in stable condition, according to police.
Andersen has a record of breaking the law, including arrests for criminal contempt and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police.
A source said he also had an outstanding warrant for another crime at the time of the incident.
Although police have identified Andersen’s girlfriend, she hasn’t been arrested yet and might not be charged, according to a source.
Meanwhile, one Staten Island man is putting together a task force to stop ticket vendors who harass tourists at the terminal, according to the Staten Island Advance.
The paper reported that Dominick DeRubbio, president of the Staten Island Young Democrats, recently presented his plan to tackle the issue to Staten Island’s Community Board 1.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also addressed the Battery beating at a press conference on Tuesday, vowing action.
“If there’s something aimed at tourists or aimed at the Staten Island Ferry we will get at it very, very aggressively,” he said. “We obviously deeply appreciate that people come to visit us. We had the highest number of tourists we’ve ever had last year — 58 million plus — and we want to keep it that way.”
