MTA employee has enamel knocked out by subway vagrant, says he is afraid to return to work: ‘Loads of violence’
A 44-year-old Massive Apple transit employee who had two of his enamel knocked out by a short-on-cash subway vagrant stated Sunday that he’s now afraid to return to work.
The sufferer, whose title is being withheld by The Publish, stated he’s nonetheless laid up from his painful accidents.
“It’s loopy,” the sufferer stated of the Jan. 17 assault. “The man stated he has cash however his automotive was not working. So, I checked his card and the cardboard solely had 30 cents on it. I informed him, ‘Sorry, you don’t come up with the money for.’ Then he abruptly punched me within the face and stated, ‘The place did my cash go?’
“Like in 10 seconds all this occurred.”
The NYPD on Sunday launched surveillance footage of the brute within the assault, which unfolded round 7 p.m. on the Herald Sq./thirty fourth Avenue station in Manhattan. The attacker was nonetheless on the unfastened Sunday.
He has a beard and moustache, and wore a darkish coat with a light-weight inexperienced hoodie
The transit employee, who has solely been on the job since late 2023 and has three younger youngsters, stated he’s nonetheless out of labor attributable to his accidents and is questioning whether or not it’s protected to return.
“I’m very afraid,” he stated. “My mouth is open proper now. Two enamel are lacking. It’s nonetheless bleeding, I’ve complications. Generally I really feel I ought to go away the job, that it’s not for me, as a result of I’ve my household.
“For some motive he was so offended and he simply punched my face and ran away.”
The sufferer was handled at Bellevue Hospital following the unprovoked assault.
The town subways have seen a current spike in violence, regardless of an total drop in transit crime.
There have been 49 felony assaults reported within the metropolis’s subway system from the beginning of the yr via Feb. 2, down from the 58 recorded throughout the identical interval final yr, NYPD statistics present.
The primary week of February noticed a very violent stretch of violence within the subway system, with 11 felony assaults reported, in comparison with simply six throughout the identical stretch in 2024, in response to the info.
The MTA employee slugged on the Herald Sq. station stated he had observed the uptick.
“Loads of violence,” he stated. “It simply occurred to me proper now.”
Anybody with details about his attacker is urged to name the NYPD Crime Stopper’s Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS or at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org.
