The 22-year-old man who was slugged in the face by the same creep who socked actor Steve Buscemi is a New York University student who was on his way to take a final exam when the senseless attack occurred, he told The Post.
“I was drinking iced coffee and he just walked up to me and was like, ‘What’s up?’ and then punched me in the face,” recalled the “shocked” victim, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“I was like, damn, I did not expect that to happen to me – especially in the middle of the day. It was also just really annoying because of the timing of it.”
Clifton Williams – a deranged homeless man with a long rap sheet – is accused of punching the soon-to-be graduate while walking between 15th and 16th streets on Third Avenue around 11:30 a.m. on May 8.
Ten minutes later and 11 blocks north, Williams, 50, allegedly unleashed his fist again on the “Boardwalk Empire” star.
Despite the “painful” slug to his left cheek – which swelled in the following days – the business major opted to stay the course and take his accounting exam.
“It was definitely a little harder to focus though,” he lamented, adding that he reported the incident to the 13th Precinct following his exam.
“I think I did fine – I think I did average or maybe a little bit higher,” he said.
When a friend sent him a news report about the attack on Buscemi, 66, which included a photo of Williams, “I don’t want to say it was, like, funny, almost, but it was just very coincidental. Like, what are the chances?” he recalled thinking.
“I was also thinking that it’s nice to have a photo of this dude, the attacker, and it being out there on the news. I felt like it would be easier for him to be identified and caught.”
Williams was slapped with a felony count of second-degree assault because Buscemi is over 65, as well as misdemeanor assault, on May 18.
He was sent to Rikers on $50,000 cash bail.
