For years, Jermaine Himmelstein, 24, has held a sign offering “Free Hugs” in public places like Times Square and Washington Square Park, a seemingly kind offer that could brighten the days of tourists and lunch-breakers.
For years, it hasn’t worked like that. The sign is a lie; Mr. Himmelstein has frequently accosted people who don’t tip him, in some cases assaulting them. Far from spreading joy, he was described in a 2013 profile in The New York Times as “a creepy legend.”
On Thursday, he was arrested and charged with robbery after punching a 22-year-old Canadian tourist, a woman, in the face at 46th Street and Broadway in Times Square, sending her to a hospital with severe swelling to her face, the police said. She had taken a photo with Mr. Himmelstein and refused his demands to pay him, the police said.
While being escorted out of a police station on Thursday, he told reporters: “I was aggressively asking for tips,” according to NBC New York.
A man who answered the phone at a number listed for Mr. Himmelstein’s parents said he had no comment and hung up.
In the 2013 profile, he described the kind of situation that would lead to violence, like the time he approached a female New York University student with his sign in Washington Square Park.