Suspect who attacked 'Boardwalk Empire' actor Michael Stuhlbarg was at center of videotaped attack on man who tried to give him a coat

The drifter who allegedly attacked “Boardwalk Empire” actor Michael Stuhlbarg with a rock Sunday previously made headlines for hitting a good Samaritan who tried to give him a coat.

Parolee Xavier Israel, 27 – who allegedly punched Stuhlbarg in the neck while the actor was jogging near Central Park on the Upper East Side – was filmed unloading a 59-year-old man who was covering him with his coat in January 2022.

The disturbing video shows Israel lying on a Fifth Avenue subway when the Samaritan takes off his coat and covers the homeless man – who immediately gets up, pushes the Samaritan to the ground and snatches his wallet.

The video shows the victim tried to get his wallet, but Israel punched him and threw him to the ground.

Israel fled the scene but was arrested shortly after. Witnesses told police he stuffed cash down his pants and officers recovered nearly $1,500 from him, sources told the Post.

Israel has been charged with several charges, including assault, theft and grand theft.

He was put behind bars on $25,000 bail, a decision that his lawyer at the time, Brian Kennedy, decried, complaining that it went against a policy implemented by the district attorney. district, Alvin Bragg, on his first day in office, according to which defendants have “a presumption of non-incarceration before trial in all cases”. » except for a handful of major crimes.

They include violent crimes in which victims suffer serious injuries from the use of firearms and other deadly weapons, sex crimes, domestic violence crimes, and public corruption.

“If you're going to make that kind of statement in the memo, then you have to comply with it,” the attorney told The Post after the hearing. They did not do it, [they] pleaded for bail when he should have been released on presumption.

In seeking bail, prosecutors argued that Israel has ties to Pennsylvania and Ohio, where he has previous arrests for assault, drug possession, theft, domestic violence assault and was sentenced to many times.

Prosecutors also noted that Israel was arrested twice for assault in New York in January 2022.

In the first incident, he was accused of punching a man and a woman, both 18, while they were sitting on a rock in Central Park and shouting obscenities at him. A few days later, he allegedly attacked a 49-year-old woman at Fifth Avenue and East 84th Street after she saw him sleeping on the ground and tried to help him.

He was charged with third-degree assault and received tickets for appearing at the office in both cases.

Kennedy told the judge that Israel was homeless and likely suffering from mental illness at the time of the incidents.

He is likely recovering from mental illness and is poor, he said. He may be suffering from drug addiction.

Israel was on parole at the time of Stuhlbarg's attack following his release from state prison on December 7, 2023.

He had been sentenced to two years in prison and two years of post-release supervision after pleading guilty to attempted robbery following the January 2022 incident.

Israel remained in the custody of the city Department of Corrections until November 3, 2023, when he was transferred to the state prison. He only spent a month in custody at the State Department of Corrections, as he received credit for his 2-year sentence from time served behind bars.

He was arraigned Monday evening in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of assault and harassment stemming from his alleged attack on Stuhlbarg. Israel was held on $50,000 bail in the case.

Stuhlbarg refused medical assistance due to reported pain and bruising to the back of his neck, police and sources said.

The Post has reached out to its representatives for comment.

Stuhlbarg was in New York before starring in Patriots, a Broadway play from The Crown creator Peter Morgan about the rise of Vladimir Putin.

He will play Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky in the play, which begins previews Monday.