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Who is Marquis Ventura? Man arrested in New York City for allegedly attacking actor Rick Moranis in October

Surveillance video had shown a man wearing a black ‘I (heart) NY’ sweatshirt and a backpack hitting the 67-year-old ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ actor, knocking him to the ground

NEW YORK: On Thursday, October 1, actor Rick Moranis was attacked in New York City. He was punched in the face by an unknown suspect. Surveillance video had shown a man wearing a black ‘I (heart) NY’ sweatshirt and a backpack hitting the 67-year-old ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ actor, knocking him to the ground.

Now, according to the latest NBC News report, a 35-year-old man was arrested for allegations of the attack, authorities said. The suspect, Marquis Ventura, was seen by transit officers in the subway system near 72nd Street and Broadway, a few blocks from where the October 1 assault had taken place at Central Park West near 70th Street, Sgt Anwar Ishmael said. Police said Ventura was detained and later arrested on suspicion of alleged assault in the second degree, which includes the allegation that he had “intent to cause serious physical injury to another person.” Other details about the suspect, including whether he has called for a lawyer, were not immediately known.

As reported by MEAWW, the incident was caught on surveillance camera. The horrific assault shows the 67-year-old walking southbound on Central Park West near West 70th Street around 7.30 am on Thursday, October 1, morning when an unidentified man suddenly struck him in the head and knocked him to the ground. Mysteriously, the attack took place barely a few blocks away from where Moranis's character — Louis Tully — lived in the 1984 supernatural action-comedy 'Ghostbusters'. 

After the attack, Moranis reportedly checked in at a local hospital and reported pain in his head, back and right hip. The extent of his injuries hasn't been disclosed as of now. After being treated, the actor then reported the incident to cops at the 20th Precinct, according to a police official.

As per a Daily Mail report, a group of officers from the New York Police Department visited the actor on Friday, October 2, at his home on the Upper West Side following an unprovoked attack on the streets. "[Moranis] is doing well. He is strong. He is recovering," said Detective Kaz Daughtry, one of six cops with the NYPD's new Community Affairs Rapid Response. "He just wants us to catch the bad guy and all this to go away. He has some injuries to his left side," he explained. Officers from the Community Affairs Rapid Response team — a newly formed unit which served to check up on city crime victims "to let them know we are there help them out in any way that we can help them" — had visited Moranis.

Officer Jonadel Dorrejo had said: "At this moment, [Moranis] just wants to stay home, he just wants to recover, and he just wants, you know, peace of mind, and once he gets better, then he is going to go out and do his daily things that he usually does."

"He is fine but grateful for everyone’s thoughts and well wishes," his representative had told the press at that time. Initially, NYPD did not reveal the victim as Moranis in the tweet, but law enforcement later confirmed the identity, Daily Mail reports. Now, according to the recent developments, the same tweet was quote-tweeted and the NYPD wrote: “Thanks to an eagle-eyed sergeant from @NYPDTransit, this suspect has been apprehended and charged.”