Mark Antal served in Delta Force. He works for a charity that delivers aid to war-torn Ukraine.
But it was on a Sunday morning in Manhattan that he ended up wounded and bleeding.
The decorated veteran was allegedly hit in the head with a brick by a homeless multiple offender after doing nothing more than waiting for his daughters, according to the New York Post.
The incident took place at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday when Antal, 54, was waiting for his daughters outside of a pilates studio.
James Lawson, 44, started ordering Antal to get off “his street,” police said.
Lawson started a fight and in the course of the struggle reportedly picked up a brick, striking Antal on the head.
As police responded to bystanders’ 911 calls, Antal held Lawson down until police arrived. Antal required a trip to the hospital for his injuries.
“We are grateful that Mark is alive and concerned about damage to his brain and head,” said Christine Antal, Mark Antal’s wife. “We are worried about our neighborhood and our children. Our children should not be afraid to be outside on a sunny Sunday morning.”
“My children recently got back from visiting wounded children and handing out medical supplies in Ukraine, and spent nights in bomb shelters,” she explained.
Will blue cities ever undo their soft-on-crime policies?
“Last night they woke up crying and scared to be in their home in NYC and said they feel safer in Kyiv.”
Lawson is being held at Bellevue Hospital and will face second-degree assault charges.
Lawson has five prior arrests that include two felonies. His most recent arrest came on April 9, when he was accused of smashing a glass at a bar on Avenue B and later reaching into a car and grabbing a victim’s phone on Second Avenue. He was released without bail on both charges.
Mark Antal served 12 years with the Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta before he retired in 2015.
Crime has led many New York City residents to call for an increase in law enforcement, even in long-liberal Greenwich Village, where Washington Square has become a den of drugs and homelessness., according to the New York Post.
“Enough is enough,” said Trevor Sumner, president of the Washington Square Association. “Liberalism is being challenged, and people are realizing that our attempts to honor some ideals are leading to worst outcomes.”
“It’s very hard for me to unsee the realities of the outcomes on the streets. It’s shifted how almost everyone I know who’s active in the community is thinking about voting,” he said
“The left has gotten more extreme as opposed to us really going the other way. There’s a lot of recidivist criminals on the streets. The progressives push really soft on crime stuff. It’s hard to believe that a huge section of our population wants career criminals on the streets,” said Eli Klein, who runs an art gallery in Greenwich Village.
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