Bust in Midtown gov-aide attack
A homeless man suspected of bashing a Gov. Cuomo staffer in the head with a cinder block in Midtown on Christmas Eve has been busted — with a little help from The Post.
Police officers were reading the paper’s coverage of Thursday’s random 2:15 p.m. assault on Lisa Cavanaugh when they spotted Christopher Guzman, lawenforcement sources said Friday.
The cops recognized Guzman from a surveillance-video photo that accompanied The Post’s article, noticing that his clothes matched those seen on the suspect in the image, sources said.
Guzman, 28, was taken into custody at 10 p.m. between Fifth and Sixth avenues and tried to lie his way to freedom, sources said.
He gave the cops a fake name, but when they ran it through the system, it came back to a 6-foot-5person. Guzman stands 5-foot-5.
He was arrested on second-degree assault charges for allegedly bashing Cavanaugh, 51, over the head with the large piece of concrete as she walked past a construction site on Third Avenue near East 48th Street.
Cavanaugh, who works on re
cruitment and appointments for Cuomo’s office, is recovering from a a 2-inch-deep head gash.
She was believed to have been walking home from work at the governor’s Midtown office.
Surveillance footage obtained by The Post shows the suspect carrying the block while following Cavanaugh, then raising it over his head and rushing at her. Prosecutors say he followed Cavanaugh for at least a block.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Jay Weiner ordered him held without bail pending a psychiatric exam to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial.
Guzman told cops he lives in a homeless hotel on West 35th Street, sources said.
Cuomo senior adviser Rich Azzopardi told The Post, “Lisa is a valued member of Team Cuomo, and we have been in constant touch with her and her family to make sure she has everything she needs in her recovery.”