An 89-year-old comedian is recovering after being randomly punched and knocked to the ground while waiting to cross a street in New York earlier this month.
NEW YORK – An 89-year-old comedian is recovering after being accidentally knocked to the ground while waiting to cross a street in New York City earlier this month.
Diane Forrest said she had just stopped at a coffee shop and was heading to a swimming pool when someone approached her from behind and hit her in the eye. She lay on the ground in shock as police and paramedics arrived to help her.
“I thought I lost the use of my eyes because I couldn’t see anything,” Forrest said. She regained her vision over the next four hours while undergoing tests at the hospital.
The suspect in the July 10 incident had medium skin, thin braids and was last seen wearing a Jurassic Park logo T-shirt and shorts, police said Saturday.
Forrest said she has lived in Greenwich Village since 1966 and nothing bad has happened to her other than watching the 9/11 attacks from her rooftop.
“I walk around the village now and I don’t get close to anyone. I don’t want to be close to anyone,” she said.
Forrest holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest working female comedian. She said her first thought after falling was whether she would be fit to perform at her nightclub on July 29.
But she said her eye was healing.
“My eye was completely red and terrifying. But now at least I can go on stage without a bruise on my eye,” Forrest said.
. “Professional creator. Lifelong thinker. Reader. Beer buff. Troublemaker. Evil problem solver.”