NYC ‘Squirrel Man’ who lives in park tree arrested in attack on Post reporter

A homeless “squirrel” man who has been nesting in a Manhattan park tree for months was busted Monday for attacking a Post reporter with a huge branch and whacking a photographer with a trash bag filled with his belongings, according to cops and video.

The unprovoked attack unfolded right in front of NYPD officers and city parks officials who were there to “evict” the vagrant from his illegal makeshift treehouse in Riverbank State Park.

The suspect, identified by cops as Rewell Altunaga, 44, was caught on camera climbing down from his tree perch and clambering up an embankment to go after the Post reporter just before 10 a.m.

He bashed the reporter, who was standing on the sidewalk, with a branch twice — landing one hit on the side of the victim’s head.

Altunaga was then filmed taking off toward 147th Street after several cops let him walk by them. Cops finally cuffed him after he also beat the Post photographer with a black garbage bag and smashed his camera into the ground.

The suspect was charged with assault and criminal mischief, police said.

The bizarre ordeal came a day after city officials issued a one-day “notice of clean up” for the section of the park where the man’s sky-high digs were located.

Parks employees arrived early Monday armed with chainsaws and heavy machinery to tear down the man’s makeshift home.

Before the scene descended into chaos, cops confirmed to The Post that they were called in to evict him.

After more than an hour, a parks supervisor said workers had cut down four trees surrounding the man’s living quarters — but that they were unable to completely remove the shelter because they needed access to the adjacent Amtrak train line.

“They have to shut [the train line] down, and then … [cherry-picker] trucks can be put on the tracks” to finish the dismantling job, the supervisor told The Post. “I hope it’s soon. I don’t want to see him back up there.”

City action to remove the months-old encampment came after The Post showed Mayor Eric Adams a photograph of the scene during an unrelated event Saturday.

“That’s not what we want,” Hizzoner said. “That’s not dignified for people.”

The mayor later vowed to start dismantling homeless encampments on city streets, saying his initiative would involve the Department of Homeless Services.

“Right now people are living in inhumane conditions. They’re living under cardboards, they’re living on highways,” Adams said at an event in the Bronx. “They’re living in train tracks where the electricity is extremely dangerous.”

He said teams made of up…