Man Arrested, Charged in Attack on NYU Student
A man has been arrested on several charges, including sexual abuse, for assaulting NYU student Amelia Lewis while she was on her way to a 9:30a.m. class Monday morning.
Lewis described the incident in a viral Tik Tok video. She was walking down Broadway with headphones on when the perpetrator, we now know to be 45-year-old James Rizzo, came behind her and hit her. When she turned around to see her assaulter, he yanked her hair, sending her to the ground and her headphones flying.
“He has done this to so many girls,” she said, imploring her audience to beware of him and to “please call 9-1-1 and report him to the police because they are looking for him.”
According to a New York Post article, Rizzo had “16 prior busts, including for sexual abuse and forcible touching.”
NYU Spokesperson John Beckman put out the following statement in an email exchange:
“The University is pleased that a suspect has been apprehended in the attack on one of its students that took place Monday morning on a Broadway sidewalk. We take this incident very seriously. We are continuing to offer support to the student, and our Campus Safety Department assisted the victim and worked with the police investigating the incident.”
Lewis said her attacker was “a tall white male with tall brunette hair and a long brunette beard, and is wearing grey sweatpants and a big black fur jacket and a blue towel around his neck,” fitting the description seen in images in the New York Post.
The attack was caught on surveillance, which Lewis shared in a separate post.