'You look exactly like Shia LaBeouf': Man punched on subway because he looks like actor

A 26-year-old man was punched in the face earlier this week, reportedly because he resembles Transformers actor Shia LaBeouf. Mario Licato, an advertising art director, was travelling on a New York subway when the assault which knocked him "out cold for a second" occurred.

"I just saw a fist coming at my face," Licato told PEOPLE of the incident. "And the next thing I know I was, like, falling down the stairs and all I heard was, 'That's because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf.'"

Licato dished out some hypothetical questions he would like to ask the man who punched him to the publication, saying: "I would basically just say, 'So what did Shia LaBeouf ever do to you that you wanted to punch him in the face? Was it one of his performance pieces? Did this guy steal his girlfriend? Like, what did he do so bad that he wanted to punch somebody that looked like him?"

"I was like, 'Am I crazy? Or did he just say that happened because I look like Shia LaBeouf?' And they were like, 'That's exactly what he said." People at the scene later described the assailant as somewhere between 6ft and 6ft 3, was particular muscular and looked like a typical "white frat boy."

Fortunately, one couple who witnessed the incident swiftly called the emergency services before helping him up the subway stairs to rest on the pavement but when they arrived, Licato claimed to Gothamist that the paramedics didn't take the situation very seriously.

"They got out of the car and the first EMT guy, while I'm gushing blood from my face, with my broken glasses, just says, 'Welcome to New York, buddy.' My response was "Well, f*** you, I'm born and raised here." I was like, "Are you kidding me? You're standing in front of somebody who's bleeding out of their face and that's your first response?"'

Police are said to be investigating the attack, with a plan to look over surveillance footage from the location to identify the "crazy person." No arrests have been made yet.

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