The man accused of sucker-punching Hollywood actor Rick Moranis has allegedly been randomly attacking strangers all around New York City for the past six months.
Moranis' assailant arrested
On November 14, the 35-year-old homeless ex-con Marquis Ventura was arrested and arraigned on a slew of charges in Manhattan Criminal Court, including an assault rap for knocking the actor to the ground on October 1 during a stroll on the Upper West Side.
The prosecutors claimed that the suspect has been involved with numerous unprovoked attacks, including one in lower Manhattan hours after he punched the actor, according to NBC News.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Kelly Keating said at the arraignment of Ventura that he has been charged with five separate assaults occurring over a six-month period in 2020, all which include unprovoked attacks on strangers during a pandemic.
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The same day as the attack on 67-year-old Rick Moranis, Ventura also fled downtown and socked a 45-year-old owner of a Soho liquor store and he stole a bottle of champagne, according to the authorities and prosecutors, accoridng to CNN.
Keating said that when he was confronted by the store owner, Ventura threw the bottle at the store owner and he proceeded to repeatedly punch him above the head. For that specific incident, the suspect was charged with assault and petit larceny.
In a separate attack back in August, Ventura pummeled a 61-year-old customer inside a Soho bodega, according to prosecutors. The victim of the assault suffered lacerations to his hand and damaged teeth. He was then arraigned for that attack.
Ventura was remanded by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Nicholas Moyne and he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, according to USA Today.
Ventura's attorney, Autumn Levin, told the judge that her client suffers from schizophrenia. Atty. Levin said that Ventura was in the psych ward in seven different states and he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Ventura had been going around without his medication.
In addition to the three separate assault indictments from the arraignment, the suspect was arrested on October 17 for allegedly assaulting a straphanger in the West Fourth Street subway station. He was given a desk-appearance ticket and he was released for that case.
Who is Rick Moranis?
Frederick Allan Moranis, widely known as Rick Moranis, is a Canadian actor, musician, comedian, screenwriter, songwriter and producer.
Moranis was hugely popular in the 80s, he appeared in the sketch comedy series Second City Television and several successful Hollywood films including Strange Brew, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Little Shop of Horros, Spaceballs, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its two sequels.
Moranis also appeared in a few films in the 90s including Parenthood, My Blue Heaven and The Flintstones.
In 1997, Moranis announced that he will take a break from acting to dedicate his time to his children after his wife passed away. He did not appear any movies for decades, although he provided voice-over work for a few animated films including Disney's Brother Bear back in 2003.
After a 23-year hiatus, the beloved 80s icon is now set to go back to doing movies and he has signed to appear in a new sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, titled Shrunk. It's release date is still not announced.
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