Woman jogging in Miami Beach ambushed and punched in face by YouTube star, police say

A popular YouTube prankster with more than 10 million subscribers was arrested after police said he tackled a woman who was out for a jog in Miami Beach, straddled her and punched her repeatedly in the face and chest.

Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, 28, appeared to be under the influence of alcohol when he attacked the jogger, according to a police report from the Miami Beach Police Department.

The attack took place at 7:15 p.m. Sunday in the 1700 block of Daytonia Road in North Beach, police said. Zdorovetskiy, a resident of Hollywood, California, had been living on Daytonia Road at the time of the incident.

Zdorovetskiy, who was jailed in January after climbing one of the Pyramids of Giza as a publicity stunt, has made prank videos in South Florida in recent years.

In 2012, he was arrested after staging a bomb hoax at a Boca Raton Publix. Also ithat year, he filmed a video pretending to be a zombie and chasing people in Miami, a reference to the face-eating attack of a homeless man on the MacArthur Causeway that summer.

The woman, who sustained a cut above her eye that needed stitches, told Zdorovetskiy to leave her alone as he approached her. She told police she had never met him before.

When he began to strike her, she called for help, said police, who did not release her name.

“The victim stated that she began to desperately scream for help which summoned a few residents and several passersby to the scene, some witnessing the attack on her,” the report states. “The victim stated that she believes she was able to escape the defendant’s vicious attack on her person because of so many people arriving on scene, causing the defendant to retreat back into his home...”

Zdorovetskiy sustained minor scratches to his hands, likely the result of the woman defending herself from his attack, police said.

He faces an aggravated battery charge and was released from jail Monday after posting a $7,500 bond, records show.