“Boardwalk Empire” actor Steve Buscemi was the victim of what appeared to be a random attack in New York City last week — an attack that reportedly sent him to Bellevue Hospital for treatment of injuries to his face and his left eye.
Buscemi, 66, was walking in midtown Manhattan just before noon when the attack took place, The New York Post reported on Sunday — and the Brooklyn native’s alleged attacker is still at large.
The “Wedding Singer” actor’s publicist issued a statement to The Post, saying, “Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city. He is ok and appreciates everyone’s well wishes, though incredibly sad for everyone that this has happened to while also walking the streets of New York.”
“I saw he was with a woman, and then through the corner of the window I saw him trip and fall backwards,” a witness told The Post. “He right away got up and ran in the opposite direction. I didn’t see who hit him. It worries me for when we close because we close at 11 and it can get scary around that time.”
Buscemi has a long list of film and television credits to his name — including “Fargo” And “Con-Air,” among others — but he began his career in the 1980s as a firefighter at the New York Fire Department’s Engine 55 in Manhattan, and he has a long history with the city he grew up in. Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he quietly returned to Engine 55 and became part of the effort to first recover survivors and then to recover bodies.
According to the latest reports from the NYPD, Buscemi’s alleged attacker has not yet been apprehended.
Another “Boardwalk Empire” star, Michael Stuhbarg, was attacked while out for an evening run on the Upper East Side at the end of March.
