A man has been arrested in connection to the brutal baseball bat attack in NYC last week -- and cops say it appears to be totally random ... because the suspect and victim were total strangers.
36-year-old Karim Azizi was hauled in by the NYPD Wednesday morning on three different charges -- assault, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Of course, Azizi is the man cops suspect was behind the brutal attack that was captured on camera.
Law enforcement sources tell us the perp and victim were total strangers, and that the beating seems to have come out of nowhere, despite some believing it may have been targeted at first. A warrant squad, we're told, picked Azizi up at his Hamilton Heights home.
Our sources also say ... the video of the incident assisted in capturing him.
As we reported ... the victim was walking on the sidewalk minding their own business, when suddenly -- the attacker pulls a bat out and hits the victim in the back of the head.
It looked like the attacker might swing again while the victim was down, but he walked away. The victim was hospitalized with a laceration and bruises, and was left in stable condition.