A 79-year-old Vietnam War veteran and his wife celebrating her 75th birthday were randomly knocked to the ground by five brutes in Lower Manhattan this week — causing her to break her collarbone and four ribs.
Long Island residents Martin and Rosalyn Landsman were walking on Canal Street near Lafayette Street around 2 p.m. Wednesday when the violent crew allegedly mowed them down from behind.
“We were walking, I guess east to get to a subway – and that’s the last thing I remember,” Rosalyn, a retired speech-language therapist, told The Post Friday in an exclusive phone interview from the couple’s room at Bellevue Hospital.
“It was like a herd just running over something,” Martin, a former administrator at a major city hospital, recalled.
“Apparently [police] said three guys ran over [Rosalyn], which is apparently why she broke so many bones,” he said.
“My main concern was Rosalyn, because of the extent of her injuries.”
The husband-and-wife had planned to take the train to the Staten Island Ferry to visit the National Lighthouse Museum as part of Rosalyn’s birthday celebration.
Instead, they were knocked unconscious and rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where they were still recovering Friday afternoon.
Rosalyn took the brunt of the attack – and needed to undergo X-rays immediately.
“Every so often, the room starts to spin because I got knocked on my head on the concrete,” she said.
Martin – who was left with a swollen ankle and back pain – described the attackers as handbag peddlers running from a police raid, though the activity apparently happened behind them and they didn’t see anything.
“I’ve spent my whole life in New York,” Martin said. “I’m familiar with it. From my perspective, this is an absolute low. I can’t believe what’s going on. It’s just demoralizing to me.”
He and his wife grew up in Queens, and have lived in Rosyln Heights, Nassau County, for 48 years.
He said he knows the Canal Street area well and is familiar with the illegal vendors who have been setting up shop there.
“I feel like I’m watching my country disintegrate in front of me over here,” Martin said. “I just don’t get why politically, we can’t control this — why we have to allow hundreds of people to set up a flea market in the middle of New York City. I just don’t get it.”
He also blasted local officials for “not doing your job.”
“People like us who have lived here, love the city – we want the city to thrive,” Martin said. “You’re spending resources protecting the wrong people now. Start to protect the correct group of people. They’ve got it upside down.”
A police official wrote in a post on X that the suspects were alleged unlicensed vendors who were being chased by cops when they crashed into Rosalyn, knocking her unconscious.
The suspects were still on the loose Friday and the NYPD released their photos in a plea for the public’s help in tracking them down.
“I’m active, so this is really slowing me down,” Rosalyn said. “I have pain in my back, and I have pain when I breathe too deeply…. But am I miserable and depressed? No, I will conquer this. We’ll get over this.”
The unprovoked mow-down happened exactly a week after another elderly woman was hurt in a vicious attack about a mile away, authorities said.
The attacker – who appears to be a much younger woman – approached the 73-year-old victim at Fulton and Gold streets around 8:30 p.m. Oct. 13, cops said.
The crazed suspect repeatedly punched the woman in the face, slammed her to the ground, and kicked her for no reason, police said.
The alleged brute – last seen wearing a white cardigan sweater, black leggings, gray sneakers, and carrying a white purse – ran off, heading north on Gold Street.
The victim was not hospitalized, authorities said.
Anyone with information on the suspects in either case is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.