NYC cops arrest suspect accused of slugging Steve Buscemi in random attack

Metro

By Joe Marino and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon

Police on Friday arrested the unhinged suspect who allegedly slugged beloved actor Steve Buscemi in an unprovoked attack on a Manhattan street.

Clifton Williams, 50, is accused of walking up to Buscemi, 66, in Kips Bay around 5:45 p.m. May 8 and randomly punching the actor, before casually walking away.

The NYPD identified Williams from surveillance footage near where the attack took place and had been scouring the city for him, including at a Brooklyn homeless shelter believed to be his last known address, law enforcement sources said.

The Brooklyn-born “Boardwalk Empire” star has declined to comment on the incident following a May 12 statement released by his publicist.

“Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city,” the publicist said in a statement Sunday. “He is OK and appreciates everyone’s well wishes, though incredibly sad for everyone that this has happened while also walking the streets of New York.”

Buscemi was spotted sporting a shiner on his left eye and a swollen cheek May 11 as he was shooting a commercial in Soho.

“The guy just came up to him and punched him on the side of the head for no reason,” a worker in the neighborhood who saw security video of the assault previously told The Post. “[Buscemi] didn’t see anything. He went straight to the ground and the guy kept going.

“[Buscemi] got right back up with an expression like, ‘What just happened?’ and looked toward the guy who’d hit him,” the worker said. “The guy shouted something back at him and kept going.”

Buscemi is a former FDNY firefighter who famously rushed to the scene of the World Trade Center on 9/11 to help out his former company, Engine 55, in its time of need.

He launched his movie career nearly 40 years ago and has a catalog of hit films that include “Farco,” “The Big Lebowski” and “Reservoir Dogs.”

He also had a recurring role in the HBO hit “The Sopranos” and more recently earned acclaim for his portrayal of corrupt Atlantic City pol Enoch “Nucky” Thompson in the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire.”

The attack makes Buscemi the second cast member from the hit show to be the victim of random New York City street violence this year.

On March 31, actor Michael Stuhbarg, who played gangster Arnold Rothstein on the show, was out for a run on the Upper East Side when he was struck in the back of the neck with a rock.

Stuhbarg chased the fiend, who was busted after running into cops guarding the Russian Consulate.

The NYPD arrested a deranged vagrant, Xavier Israel, 27, in the assault.