ONE News US correspondent Jack Tame was attacked by a woman in New York after trying to stop a man hitting her in public.

Tame says he had left his apartment in Harlem when he saw a couple arguing in the street.

"They were swearing and yelling at each other when suddenly the man hit the woman really hard in the side of the head," he says.

"She screamed and swung back at him. I walked over to say something, when the woman turned and swung at me. She clipped me in the ear, I turned away and she punched me between my shoulders.

"I was fine, just a bit confronted and alarmed. It's awful to see people treating each other like that. They kept screaming and yelling at each other, and at me, then rushed off in opposite directions."

Tame says he was left "a little bit shocked" by the incident, which occurred around 9am NZT.