Man Suspected Of Sucker Punching Steve Buscemi​ Arrested: Report

NEW YORK CITY — A man suspected of sucker punching actor Steve Buscemi on a Manhattan street was arrested following an unrelated altercation Friday, police said.

Clifton Williams, a 50-year-old unhoused man, is charged with second-degree felony assault. Police believe he randomly attacked the "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski" actor along Third Avenue nine days ago, leaving Buscemi,66, with a black eye. It was a high-profile incident in a string of seemingly random attacks in the city.

Police were called to a Chelsea neighborhood Friday in response to a dispute between Williams and another man a dozen blocks from the place where Buscemi was punched, The New York Times reported. Officers recognized Williams and arrested him in connection with the attack on Buscemi and another man who was assaulted 15 minutes before the actor in the same neighborhood, according to the New York Police Department.

Williams was charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault in that case, and he faces up to seven years in prison if convicted on all counts, the Times reported.

Police had requested the public's help finding Williams, who they said was the man seen in surveillance footage near the May 8 assault.

Buscemi had been walking along Third Avenue near East 27th Street in Kips Bay when a man — Williams, police now say — randomly clobbered him in the face about 11:50 a.m., authorities said.

The punch left Buscemi — who went to the hospital in stable condition — with a bloodied, bruised and swollen left eye, police said.

Photographs later published by the New York Post showed Buscemi this week with a black eye.

The Post also reported that video showed the attacker talking to himself before he punched Buscemi.