A confused man pours tomato juice on three women shopping at Manhattan CVS as crime levels rise in the city
- A man wearing a ski mask accidentally poured V8 juice on three women shopping at the CVS at 51 Astor Place. Wednesday around 4:30 p.m
- Speaking to , one of the women concerned recounted the disturbing incident but said she kept on calling and said the incident was only one in a million
- Seckler, who has lived in the area for over 40 years, planned to routinely shop at the Astor Place CVS store before she was approached by the man
A deranged man poured tomato juice on women at a CVS in Manhattan during a random, unprovoked attack amid rising crime in the city.
A man wearing a ski mask accidentally poured V8 juice on three women shopping at the CVS at 51 Astor Place. Wednesday around 4:30 p.m.
Speaking to , one of the women concerned recounted the disturbing incident but said she kept on calling and said the incident was only one in a million.
“I walked through the door and the man turned and poured tomato juice on me,” said Valery Seckler.
Seckler, who has lived in the area for over 40 years, planned to routinely shop at the Astor Place CVS store before she was approached by the man.
Speaking to , one of the women concerned recounted the disturbing incident but said she kept on calling and said the incident was only one in a million
“I walked through the door and the man turned and poured tomato juice on me,” said Valery Seckler
A man wearing a ski mask accidentally poured V8 juice on three women shopping at a CVS in Manhattan. Above, one of the victims right after the attack
V8 juice stain on the floor at the CVS where the attack unfolded
As she walked through the door, the man poured the tomato juice and headed for the exit.
“I saw him turn around, but I had no idea he was going to throw tomato juice at me … He made a sort of gesture motion and turned around and kept walking the other way,” Seckler added.
“It took me a moment to realize exactly what had happened…then I thought of getting help cleaning up.”
While Seckler says she wasn’t shaken by the experience, many New Yorkers have expressed fear of increasing unprovoked indiscriminate attacks.
While the New York City Police Department recorded 370 more robberies, 354 more felonies and 342 more burglaries from a year ago, citywide shootings are down 29.1 percent, from 148 cases in April 2021 to 105 last month.
In January 2022, Mayor Adams unveiled a comprehensive plan to combat the rise in crime, which included increased foot patrols as well as the revitalization of a plainclothes unit called Neighborhood Safety Teams.
But the initiatives have borne little fruit as crime continues to rise, with murder and rape being the only crimes to show a decline between April 2022 and April 2021.
MAY 2021 vs. MAY 2022: As of May 1, total crime this year has increased by 41.6 percent compared to the previous year
While Seckler says she wasn’t shaken by the experience, many New Yorkers have expressed fear of increasing unprovoked indiscriminate attacks
The attack happened at CVS at 51 Astor Place. Wednesday around 4:30 p.m