Suspect accused of breaking NYC woman’s jaw in sucker-punch attack has history of mental illness, rap sheet: sources

The suspect cut loose after allegedly socking a Big Apple woman in the face — breaking her jaw and knocking out several teeth — in a brazen daylight attack has a rap sheet of similar sucker-punch assaults to his name and a long history of mental illness, The Post has learned.

Franz Jeudy, 33, was nabbed after allegedly punching Brooklyn school bus aide, Dulche Pichardo, 57, in the face as she was walking home from work in Crown Heights on Tuesday evening, cops said.

Despite the victim’s severe injuries, Jeudy was set free by a Brooklyn judge on supervised release after the repeat offender was slapped with misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault, attempted assault and harassment — all non-bail-eligible offenses.

“This is terrible. I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” a bruised and battered Pichardo told The Post on Friday.

“He’s not supposed to be free,” she added. “They know that he’s dangerous. You cannot have these people outside that are that dangerous.”

The alleged perp’s rap sheet includes prior arrests for two other random punch attacks — including one on a law enforcement officer and the other on a security guard, police sources said.

He was arrested for misdemeanor assault after he whacked a Department of Homeless Services officer in the face at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center located on Randall’s Island In July 2018, according to sources.

The officer had just finished his shift and was driving out of the parking lot when Jeudy swung at him through his window. The punch left the officer with bruising, a laceration to his left eye, cuts on his nose and a chipped tooth.

He was then hit with a third-degree assault charge again in January 2019 after socking a security guard in the face at the NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Medical Center, sources said.

The security guard, who was attacked after asking Jeudy to move, suffered cuts to his upper and lower lips.

Both of those misdemeanor assaults were later dismissed in August 2019 after Jeudy — who has an apparent history of schizophrenia — was found unfit to stand trial, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

It wasn’t immediately clear if he was required to seek mental help as a result.

In the wake of those assaults, though, Jeudy was referred to the NYPD’s “co-response unit” in 2020 — a dedicated crisis intervention team made up of cops and licensed mental health professionals, sources said.

The unit can be called out as backup, if requested, when reports of an emotionally disturbed person come in. The referral is listed on Jeudy’s rap sheet, which means any cop, court officer or district attorney who run his details would be notified of his mental health history, according to sources.

Authorities, too, have responded a handful of times to 911 calls seeking assistance for Jeudy dating back to at least 2013, the sources added.

In some of those instances, Jeudy had told cops or EMS that he was schizophrenic and had gone off his meds.

Details of his history emerged as his latest alleged victim, Pichardo, revealed she’s now living in a constant state of fear — and demanded cops crack down on crime amid a spate of similar sucker punch attacks citywide.

“This happens to a lot of women,” said the mom-of-three, who has to have her jaw wired shut for the next six weeks due to her injuries.

“For all women now it’s dangerous. We’re not safe. Everybody is scared now to go outside because you don’t know who could punch you.”

“This is the first time I don’t feel safe in New York,” she added.

“I know a lot of people have mental health problem, whatever, but they’re not supposed to be in the street. We can’t pay for that because we didn’t do anything.”

On the same day Pichardo was brutally assaulted, an unidentified male approached a 24-year-old woman in Flatiron just before 1 p.m. and punched her in the head with a closed fist, police said.

The attacker fled on foot and the victim refused medical attention.

Both incidents follow a disturbing spate of women being randomly punched while walking in the Big Apple.

Halley Kate, an influencer with 1.1 million followers on TikTok, posted a video Monday, saying she was assaulted so viciously she blacked out.

“You guys, I was literally just walking, and a man came up and punched me in the face,” Kate said through tears in a video on the social media platform.

On Wednesday, police said investigators arrested 40-year-old Skiroky Story, a criminal recidivist with an extensive criminal record, in connection with the sucker-punch.

Another woman, Mikayla Toninato, whose TikTok bio said she attends Greenwich Village’s Parsons School of Design, recounted a similar terrifying ordeal on the social media app Monday.

“I just got punched in the face, walking home,” the TikToker claimed, later adding the assault happened at West 14th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. “I was literally like leaving class, I turned the corner and I was looking down and I was looking at my phone, and like texting, and then, out of nowhere, this man just came up and hit me in the face.”

Earlier this month, another woman named Oliva Brand took to TikTok to share her frightening story.

“I literally got punched in the head on the sidewalk,” Brand said of the March 17 asault on Mulberry Street in Nolita.

“He goes, ‘Sorry,’ and then punches me — in the head. Holy crap, what the hell just happened? Oh my God.”

Meanwhile, in the wake of Tuesday’s violent attack on Pichardo, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said they are now looking into whether Jeudy’s assault charge can be upgraded to a felony.

“This was a horrific incident of unprovoked violence, and we are looking into the incident and all possible charges, including felony assault,” a spokesperson for the DA’s office told The Post.