A series of videos from women recounting unprovoked attacks by men while walking around Manhattan have dominated TikTok feeds across the city in recent weeks.

In most cases, the women said they were on their phones when they were randomly punched in the head.


What You Need To Know

  • Multiple women have posted videos on TikTok sharing stories of men punching them in the head on city streets
  • Accounts of unprovoked attacks have gotten millions of views online

  • Police have made at least two arrests in connection with the attacks
  • As of Friday, it wasn't clear if the NYPD had established the attacks as a pattern

Social media influencer Halley Kate Mcgookin shared her experience on TikTok. The video went viral, with more than 46 million views and counting.

“I fell to the ground, and I literally blacked out for a second, then I got up and he was screaming at me,” the influencer explained to her more than 1.1 million TikTok followers.

On Wednesday, the NYPD announced the arrest of 40-year-old Brooklynite Skiboky Stora. Stora was charged with assault for allegedly punching Mcgookin in Chelsea Monday morning.

According to court records and police, Stora was arrested two other times in the last six months for similar attacks. Both times he was released without bail, but on the latest charge, he is being held on $10,000 bail.

Police have not said if Stora is a suspect in the other incidents.

Michael Alcazar, a former NYPD detective and now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, spoke with NY1 about the attacks.

“If you are punched in the face — punched, slapped in the face — no injuries, no visible injuries, the New York City Police Department will take a complaint for harassment. It's only considered harassment unless it happens in the presence of a police officer,” he said. “If you do have an injury, a visible injury — a bullet, bloody lip, a broken nose — then it’ll rise up to an assault.”

Police are searching for at least one other individual in connection to TikTok user Malous228's report that she was punched.

In her video, she said a man randomly punched her right outside the Times Square subway station at Seventh Avenue and West 42nd Street around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 23.

As of Friday, it wasn't clear if the NYPD has established the attacks as a pattern, but the NYPD has police reports for at least six of these incidents.

Two alleged assaults occurred in Times Square, two in Chelsea, one in Nolita and the other in Flatiron.

NY1 attempted to reach out to every woman referenced in the story, and everyone connected to these police reports, asking for interviews. So far, no one has agreed to speak on camera.

Fashion student Mikayala Toninato said a man punched her as she left class in the Flatiron incident at West 14th Street and Fifth Avenue on Monday.

In a second video, she explains she went to the emergency room and was told she had a concussion, chipped tooth and a black eye from being hit.

At first, she did not file a police report, but in the days since, she has made a formal complaint with the department that is currently being investigated.

“I definitely thought that if I went to the police, nothing would happen and they wouldn't really care. But I was wrong, and they actually cared a lot,” Toninato said in a video posted to TikTok. “So, if you've also been assaulted in New York, I would really encourage you to go to the police and make a report.”

Police have arrested 30-year-old-Mallik Miah in connection with Toninato’s alleged assault.

The NYPD is urging others to report any similar crimes as their investigation continues.