INWOOD — A man is being hailed a Good Samaritan after he rescued a woman from a mugging while jogging in Fort Tryon Park.

The alleged thief sucker punched him in the face for his heroic efforts.

Kirk Noreen needed seven stitches for the laceration to the side of his mouth

“Some stitches here in the face and mouth and actually inside my mouth is cut up pretty badly,” said Noreen.

Noreen was out for his daily jog on Monday just before 10 a.m. when he came upon a harrowing scene in Fort Tryon Park in Inwood.

“I saw woman clearly in distress. She implored me to stop she said 'please help me, please help me I’m being attacked.' She said 'he’s beating me he’s taking my phone and I’m very afraid for my life right now.' She was in tears, her face was red because he had been hitting her and he had her phone. So first thing I did, crazily an instinct was say give her her phone back,” said Noreen.

It was a mugging in process. The suspect was allegedly trying to steal a phone from the woman, who is also a jogger.

Without giving it a second thought, Noreen stepped in even though the thief stood a couple inches taller.

“Something in me said this is what I have to do now I feel compelled to do," Noreen said. "I got into space and said 'you don’t ever assault women you don’t assault anybody so leave now.'”

To Noreen’s surprise, the guy gave the phone back and complied with the request to leave, but less than 20 seconds later, he was back.

“I kind of just inserted myself between him and her and just stood there and said again forcefully please leave, go! I guess at this point he got frustrated and cold-clocked me. I looked down my shirt and it was kind of covered in blood and my tights, shoes were covered in blood.”

Sucker punched, he got knocked onto his back and blacked out for a few seconds. Noreen said the suspect took off and tried to rob another woman before he was chased off by other joggers. Noreen says he simply did what anybody else would’ve done

“I wasn’t looking to fight anyone, but I was not going to let him continue to assault this woman. I live in this community for many years and I want this community to be safe and still remain safe. It’s a great place to live. I think what makes New York a great place to live is people step in and do things for each other to make it a better place.”

Sitting on his dining room table tonight, is a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the woman he rescued.

With a heartfelt card saying thank you.

The suspect is described as a black male between 18-21 years old, standing about 5‘11“ tall with a slim build.

Kirk Noreen gets his stitches removed next week. Other than it being a little difficult to drink and eat, he says he’s OK, as is the woman he saved from the mugging.