A stroller pusher who allegedly terrorized at least five women on the Upper East Side was arrested on assault charges Saturday and was free on $50,000 bail.
Sam Mensah, 32, who has been arrested nearly a dozen times before, is accused in multiple incidents of assaulting his 64-year-old grandmother; spitting in a reporter’s eyes; and knocking a passerby unconscious.
During Mensah’s appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court, Judge Judy King issued multiple protective orders against the alleged victims.
Prosecutors have sought $150,000 cash bail for Mensah. Mensah had not yet posted bail as of Saturday afternoon, according to public records.
Mensah was arrested Thursday night and charged with assault for shoving an elderly woman on East 77th Street near Third Avenue on Sept. 9, police and sources said.
The victim was pushed so hard that he scraped his knees and tore his clothes, according to police and family members.
Last December, the 5-foot-9, 150-pound Mensah allegedly knocked down a 68-year-old attorney in another seemingly random attack on the street.
The man said he did not remember being knocked unconscious and did not know he had been attacked until an officer told him.
Mensah told police the victim leaned against the child’s stroller, causing him to lash out, according to court documents.
He is also accused of hitting someone in the face with a hand basket and hitting a 16-year-old girl at a grocery store on Thursday, according to prosecutors.
Mensah’s attorney, April Smallwhite, called the case against him “weak” and said it was the result of media attention.
“They painted this guy as a villain who harassed people on the Upper East Side. Is this a crime? No,” she said.
Mensah lives in a family shelter with his two-year-old child. During one of the alleged attacks, the boy was in a stroller.
