NEW YORK (AP) — An 89-year-old comedian is recovering after he was randomly punched and knocked to the ground while waiting to cross the street in New York earlier this month.
Deanne Forrest said she had stopped at a coffee shop and was heading to the pool when someone came up from behind and punched her in the eye. Ms Forrest fell to the ground in shock as police and paramedics arrived to help.
“I couldn’t see anything and thought I was losing my eyesight,” said Forrest, who after being examined at hospital, regained his sight within four hours.
Police said Saturday that the female suspect in the July 10 incident has medium skin tone, cornrow braids and was last seen wearing a tank top and shorts with the Jurassic Park logo.
Forrest said he has lived in Greenwich Village since 1966 and nothing bad has ever happened to him there, except for watching the 9/11 attacks from his rooftop.
“Now I walk around the village but I don’t go near anyone. I don’t want to go near anyone,” she said.
Forrest, who holds the Guinness World Record as the oldest active female comedian, said her first thought after falling to the ground was whether she would make it to her show at the nightclub on July 29.
But she said her eye is healing.
“My eye was red and it was awful, but now at least I can go on stage without a black eye,” Forrest said.
