The violent vagrant arrested for attacking a 20-year-old NYU coed in an unprovoked attack Monday morning has a troubling history of cowardly assaults on women, The Post has learned.

James Rizzo, a 45-year-old homeless brute with 16 prior busts, including for sexual abuse and forcible touching — and even a 1997 murder rap — was charged Tuesday evening with shoving college student Amelia Lewis to the ground as she walked to class in Lower Manhattan on Monday morning.

Suspect James Rizzo is a career criminal with a history of sexually assaulting women and was once arrested for murder in 1997. Storyful

He was slapped with persistent sexual abuse, forcible touching and assault charges for the random attack on the 20-year-old, cops said.

Rizzo was released from state prison in September

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