A little over a month after the NYPD offered an award for anyone with news related to the Rick Moranis sucker punch incident, a suspect has been arrested. NYPD police took a 35-year-old male into custody in connection with the case over the weekend, and apparently the charge is pretty serious due to Moranis’ age.
Marquis Ventura was arrested and booked on a felony assault charge. Rick Moranis is 67 this year, and that makes him technically a senior citizen (even if he’ll forever be a young dad in our eighties-related brains). Normally punching someone would not necessarily be a felony charge, but given Moranis’ advanced age the charge was upgraded, per TMZ, which notes anyone over 65 counts as a senior citizen in the eyes of the law.
The incident was a weird one when it happened earlier this fall. In early October, news broke that Rick Moranis had simply been walking down the street when he was sucker punched out of nowhere. He fell to the ground and ended up going to the hospital, though the injuries he sustained to his head, neck and hips may not have been too bad. He later said through a rep that he was “fine but grateful for everyone's thoughts and well wishes.”
Still, the moment was national news when it happened. Rick Moranis has mostly been retired for years. He’s a celebrity who is very much into minding his own business and there seemed to be no reason he was randomly sucker punched on the Upper West Side. Video of the incident showed him simply walking down a street and getting knocked down. He had no time to really even react and was seen in footage laying on the ground as his assaulter simply walked away.
Some major names took up the Justice for Moranis rally cry, from Chris Evans to Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds took the of-course-this-would-happen-in-2020 tact when he commented on the situation. Moranis, a fellow Canadian, had worked recently with Ryan Reynolds on a Mint Mobile ad.
Following the incident, police offered a $2500 dollar reward with anyone with info on the person who punched Rick Moranis. A month later, it seems those efforts paid off. It’s still currently unclear why Rick Moranis was sucker punched on the streets of New York City. A note from the NYPD Transit Department mentions that it is the suspect’s 7th assault charge this year, however.
Now a suspect is in custody, perhaps some light will be able to be shed on the matter. I mean, I know Honey, I Blew Up The Kid isn’t a great movie, but we’ve all had nearly 30 years to get over it.
