NEW YORK (PIX11) -- An 89-year-old woman is recovering after being the target of random violence in the West Village.
D'Yan Forest, known as the world's oldest working female comedian, was sucker-punched while walking to the gym. Forest had been preparing for one of the biggest shows of her life. Her big 90th birthday show is next week at Joe's Pub.
But now, Forest is sporting a bruised and bloodshot left eye and feared she would be sidelined from show business by the sucker punch.
"And all of a sudden, I feel something," Forest said. The daily swimmer was walking to the Equinox in the West Village last Wednesday morning when suddenly she was knocked down by brute force.
"I figured the world would come and pick me up, and I saw a woman across Greenwich Avenue," she recalled.
Forest temporarily lost sight in the eye but says she saw the female perpetrator take off near Greenwich Avenue and West 11th Street.
"She looked at me with a scowl and ran off," Forest said.
No words were exchanged.
Passersby helped pick her up off the ground, and she was taken to the hospital just across the street.
Doctors said she was suffering from hemorrhaging in her eye. It's still red days later, and her vision is still spotty.
But, as they say, the show must go on. And Forest is now finding humor in it all.
"I've sung and played comedy for 90 years, right? And have tried to get publicity. Guess what? I had to get sucker-punched," she said, laughing.
The NYPD has not made any arrests in the case.
