An Italian tourist who was slashed by a crazed woman in an unprovoked Midtown attack said he initially thought she had punched him — until he saw the blood.
Paolo Rech, an assistant professor of engineering at Universita di Trento, told The Post he was strolling along Madison Avenue around 10:40 a.m. Saturday when he spotted the woman staring bizarrely at a sign advertising for phone charging locations.
“I saw her and I was passing behind her and she jut turned quickly and snapped at me with the knife,” Rech said on Sunday. “At first I thought she was just trying to punch me. I held up my hand to block and she hit my hand.
“She did not say anything and she immediately turned and started to stare at the sign again,” he said. “I started to walk away and then I could see a very deep cut in my hand.”
Rech described the weapon as “a normal knife with a white plastic handle.”
He spotted cops nearby and approached them for help — while his deranged attacker walked away. She remained on the loose on Sunday, according to police.
The Post obtained a surveillance photo of the woman, who is described in her 30s and about 5-foot-7, and was wearing a blue jacket, a purple sweater and black pants.
Meanwhile, Rech said the harrowing experience hasn’t soured him on the Big Apple in the least — but it has changed his mind about New York’s Finest.
“I am not afraid here,” he said. “It could happen anywhere. I’m not feeling any more or less safe.
“If there’s one thing I could say, as a foreigner, I was concerned with talking to the police,” he said. “When my hand was bleeding and I saw the police car on the street I had some concerns, but I was bleeding.
“They were so kind, they were so helpful. As a foreigner you are afraid to talk to the police or to ask for help,” he added. “But seeing how kind and how helpful they were I would tell other tourists don’t be scared of the police. Don’t be scared of the ambulances, of the hospitals here.”
Additional reporting by Larry Celona