Marquis Ventura, 35, was apprehended in the subway on Saturday night a few blocks away from where the attack occurred last month
A man has been arrested in connection with the random assault on actor Rick Moranis that was caught on camera near his New York City apartment last month.
Officials from the NYPD identified the suspect Saturday as 35-year-old Marquis Ventura.
The horrifying assault was caught on surveillance camera and shows Moranis, 67, who is 5ft 6in walking near Central Park West on the Upper West Side when suddenly a man walking by struck him in the head, knocking him to the ground.
Ventura was arrested by a transit cop on Saturday night at 96th Street and Broadway subway station.
Ventura is a Manhattan resident with a history of 13 arrests, including five for felonies according to the New York Post.
Officials from the NYPD identified the suspect Saturday as Marquis Ventura, who was spotted by a transit officer. He was taken into custody, pictured, on Saturday evening
The 35-year-old man identified as Marquis Ventura was arrested in connection with the unprovoked attack on Rick Moranis in New York City last month.
Ventura is a Manhattan resident with a history of 13 arrests, including five for felonies
The man accused of sucker punching actor Rick Moranis is now in police custody
Rick Moranis, 67, was walking on New York City’s Upper West Side last month around 7.30am when he was attacked. Surveillance footage captures a stranger walking past him abruptly punching Moranis in the head, knocking him to the ground (left and right)
‘Thanks to an eagle-eyed sergeant from @NYPDTransit, this suspect has been apprehended and charged,’ the NYPD said in a tweet.
‘Thanks to an eagle-eyed sergeant from @NYPDTransit, this suspect has been apprehended and charged,’ the NYPD said in a tweet.
While the unprovoked attack was caught on video, other nearby surveillance cameras also managed to catch images of the suspect.
The attack caused Moranis to suffer pain in his head, back and right hip as a result of the attack.
Shortly after the attack, which occurred at the start of October, the star of Ghostbusters and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, was visited by 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.’
It comes as crimes such as murder have risen 40 percent and burglary has risen 38 percent New York City compared to the same period last year as residents moved out amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The actor visited a local hospital with complaints of pain in his head, back and right hip. Pictured: Moranis at opening night for the Broadway play ‘In and Of Itself’, April 2017
After the attack, Moranis visited a local hospital, where he reported pain in his head, back and right hip.
The suspect, who was seen wearing a dark ‘I [love] NY’ sweatshirt, black pants and sneakers, fled the scene on foot.
The NYPD has also offered a reward of up to $2,500 for the attacker’s apprehension.
According to new NYPD statistics, some crimes have been up while others are down compared to last year.
Murder is up 40 percent for the first nine months of 2020 when compared to the first nine months of 2019 with 344 murders compared to 246.
Burglary and grand larceny auto have also risen, by 38 percent and 404 percent, respectively, compared to the same time period in 2019.
However, other crimes such as rape, assault and robbery have fallen by about a 33 percent, 115 percent 149 percent, respectively, from last year, data shows.
Moranis, who was born in Toronto, Canada, secured his big break when he appeared in the 1983 film Strange Brew.
He then appeared in a string of commercially successful films including Ghostbusters in 1984, Spaceballs in 1987, and two films in 1989, Ghostbusters II and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
The original Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was so successful that Moranis returned for sequel Honey, I Blew Up The Kid in 1992.
He completed the trilogy with straight-to-video sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves in 1997 which was his last on-camera role before his hiatus.
Rick Moranis was spotted out for a walk in New York City a week after his attack
Moranis walked in a neighborhood decked out with reward posters with pictures of his attacker
The 5ft 5in Moranis looked preoccupied and glanced around him as he stepped out seven days after the unprovoked attack
Moranis has largely remained out of the spotlight since, only doing voicework for a few animated projects including the 2003 film Brother Bear and TV series The Animated Adventures Of Bob & Doug McKenzie.
He said he made the decision to step away to focus on being a single father to his children, Rachel and Mitchell, after losing his wife, costume designer Ann Belsky, to breast cancer in February 1991.
He told USA Today: ‘As a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage to raise my kids and to do the traveling involved in making movies.
‘So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn’t miss it.’
Moranis said he took a break from acting to focus on being a single father after his wife died in 1991. Pictured: Moranis in an interview for Disney+
The premise of the sequel Shrunk concerns Moranis’s character’s now-grown son accidentally shrinking his own children. Pictured: Moranis at an unknown location, May 1994
Celebrities including Ryan Reynolds and Chris Evens tweeted about their anger over the vicious attack and well-wishes to Moranis
In February 2020, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Moranis would be reprising his role as Wayne Szalinski in Shrunk, a new sequel in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids series.
It is the first live-action film the actor is starring in in 23 years.
The premise of the film centers around Szalinski’s now grown-up son, portrayed by Frozen star Josh Gad, who repeats the same mistake of shrinking his own children.
In a clip for Disney+ (via Entertainment Weekly), Moranis praised the director of the original film Joe Johnston.
He had the vision of this in his head. And on that movie, I was really an actor,’ he said.
‘I think I drove him crazy a couple of times trying to get more comedy into it ’cause I was always looking for how to disrupt and get some more jokes in, and poor Joe just wanted to make his movie.’
At the time of Moranis’ attack, celebrities tweeted their anger and sent their best wishes to Moranis.
Ryan Reynolds, who starred with Moranis in a commercial earlier this year, wrote: ‘Should have known not to subject Rick to the year 2020. Glad to hear he’s okay.’
And Chris Evans tweeted: ‘My blood is boiling. Find this man. You don’t touch Rick Moranis.’