A pregnant woman was smashed in the head with a metal rod by a “disheveled lunatic” in Chelsea on Tuesday, according to witnesses and police.
The victim, a 35-year-old brunette in a fashionable leather jacket and slacks, fell to the ground shrieking in anguish, according to a witness, Norman Ross.
Ross said the attacker looked dirty and was wearing a leather jerkin over a robe and high-top sneakers. It was obvious, he added, that the victim didn’t know the attacker.
“I’ll be honest, I was scared,” said Ross, even though he is an accomplished weightlifter and the pal he was with, Matthew Malin, is a 6-foot-6 martial arts fighter.
“He was angry and p—ed off and looking to smash people.”
Ross, 61, and Malin, 35, were walking to a diner after seeing the movie “Warfare” when they saw actual violence break out on 18th Street near 6th Avenue, soon being among those menaced as they tried to intervene.
“The guy started threatening everybody, screaming ‘I’ll f–k you up! I’ll knock you out,’” Ross said.
While they were preoccupied with the “disheveled lunatic,” the attacked pregnant woman climbed to her feet and fled to her apartment nearby.
The attacker kept ambling east on 18th Street, mumbling a mix of gibberish and more threats to the crowd, Ross said.
After calling police, Malin and Ross climbed into a police cruiser to help search for the attacker, identifying him a few blocks away.
“There he was,” Ross said sarcastically, “holding his four-foot metal bar calmly walking down the street.”
Officers arrested the suspect, Raquan El, 37, without incident, law enforcement sources said. He is charged with assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon, for the pipe that police said was stuffed with wood.
The suspect has prior arrests for criminal possession of a weapon, forcible touching, criminal trespassing and burglary, law enforcement sources said.
Ross said the pregnant victim went back to the 13th Precinct to identify him.
She was taken to Bellevue Hospital with pain and swelling and was in stable condition, police said.
Despite deadlifting 350 pounds last week (617.75 pounds at his peak) and with a friend who is trained to fight, Ross said the encounter was unnerving.
“Oh hell yeah, we were scared,” Ross said. “My friend is a 6-foot-6 MMA fighter – he’s a big scary dude – but we’re not used to a crazy guy screaming and yelling with a metal pipe in our face.”
Ross said he is as New York as you can get. He was born in Lenox Hill Hospital but spent the rest of his life growing up in Canarsie. He said senseless incidents like this wouldn’t have happened when he was a kid.
“That’s what this city is becoming,” Ross said. “But bashing a poor pregnant woman in the head. … No way.”
Cops thanked Ross and Malin and gave them a ride to Westway Diner, their original destination before all hell broke loose. He had half a roast chicken, vegetable soup, salad and breadsticks.
“I ate more calories than I ordinarily eat because I was so freaked out by the whole experience,” he said.
