Sex Fiend Who Nearly Killed NYC Man With Sucker Punch Freed Without Bail

A convicted sex offender who allegedly cold-cocked a man on a Bronx street — leaving him in a coma with brain injuries — was freed without bail Thursday after getting his attempted-murder charges reduced in the unprovoked attack.

Bui Van Phu, 55, was instead charged by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office with assault and harassment, both misdemeanors, for the brutal knockout punch last Friday that left 52-year-old Jesus Cortes unconscious on the street, according to a criminal complaint.

Bui Van Phu

The victim required brain surgery and is now in a medically induced coma, authorities said.

The new charges against Phu are not bail eligible, and a Bronx judge cut him loose on supervised release at his arraignment Thursday, a spokesperson for the DA’s Office said.

The NYPD had charged Phu with attempted murder after arresting him Wednesday for the attack that appeared to have come out of the blue.

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Phu allegedly confessed the crime to his parole officer, according to the complaint against him.

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The victim was leaving the Fuego Tipico Restaurant on East 188th Street near the Grand Concourse in Fordham Manor around 10:45 p.m. Aug. 12 when he stopped near a group of people chatting outside, cops said.

Cortes, shown in surveillance footage carrying a backpack, was followed out by a balding man wearing a black T-shirt.

The man put on what appear to be work gloves — before slugging the victim from behind, causing him to fall onto the sidewalk and hit his head {snip}

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Phu was convicted of first-degree sex abuse in the Bronx in 1995 and was sentenced to six years to life in prison {snip}

He was paroled in 2019 and is now registered as a Level 3 sex offender — the most serious designation {snip}

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