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Multiple women have shared distressing TikTok videos describing instances of being unexpectedly assaulted by strangers while walking in New York City, with two incidents reported to the police this week. Halley Kate, a TikTok influencer with millions of followers, tearfully recounted one of these attacks in a video posted on Monday, stating that she was punched in the face, causing her to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.
“You guys, I was literally just walking, and a man came up and punched me in the face,” Kate said through tears in a post on Monday morning.
Later that day, Mikayla Toninato, identified as a student at Parsons School of Design in Greenwich Village, mentioned Kate in a post, sharing a comparable account.
“I just got punched in the face, walking home,” the TikToker claimed.
“I was literally like leaving class, I turned the corner and I was looking down and I was looking at my phone, and like texting, and then, out of nowhere, this man just came up and hit me in the face,” she said.
On March 17, another woman named Oliva Brand shared her encounter on the platform, detailing a similar experience in a video filmed on Mulberry Street in Nolita.
“I literally got punched in the head on the sidewalk. He goes, ‘Sorry,’ and then punches me — in the head,” Brand said, in a video of her walking down a street.
“Holy crap, what the hell just happened? Oh my God.”
The NYPD verified the accounts provided by Kate and Brand. According to the police, she received medical treatment for injuries to the left side of her face. However, authorities indicated it was uncertain whether the incidents were linked.