Man suspected of beating Steve Buscemi arrested: report

A 50-year-old homeless man wanted in connection with the random attack on actor Steve Buscemi was arrested following an altercation in Chelsea.

May 18, 2024, 6:52 p.m. EDT | Updated May 18, 2024, 6:55 p.m. EDT

NEW YORK CITY (AP) — A man suspected of punching actor Steve Buscemi on a Manhattan street was arrested Friday after an unrelated altercation, police said.

Clifton Williams, a 50-year-old unhoused man, is charged with second-degree assault. Police believe he randomly attacked the “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski” actor on Third Avenue nine days ago, leaving Buscemi, 66, with a black eye. It was a high-profile incident in a series of seemingly random attacks across the city.

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Police were called to a Chelsea neighborhood on Friday in response to an argument between Williams and another man a dozen blocks from where Buscemi was beaten, The New York Times reported. According to the New York Police Department, officers recognized Williams and arrested him in connection with the attack on Buscemi and another man who was attacked 15 minutes before the actor in the same neighborhood.

Williams was charged with third-degree assault in the case and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted on all counts, the Times reported.

Police had asked the public for help in finding Williams because they believed he was the man seen in surveillance footage near the May 8 attack.

Buscemi had been walking along Third Avenue near East 27th Street in Kips Bay when a man – Williams, police now say – randomly punched him in the face around 11:50 a.m., authorities said.

The blow left Buscemi, who was hospitalized in stable condition, with a bloody, bruised and swollen left eye, police said.

Photos later published by the New York Post showed Buscemi with a black eye this week.

The Post also reported that a video showed the attacker talking to himself before hitting Buscemi.