NEW YORK (WCBS ) — A 28-year-old woman is recovering after being deliberately pushed onto subway tracks.
As CBS2’s Dave Carlin reports, the woman expected to ride the rails. Instead, she was taken by ambulance to NYU Langone Tisch Hospital.
Video shows the woman surrounded by paramedics tending to her hand, which was injured in the incident.
It happened in a horrifying moment around 9:30 a.m. Friday morning at the Times Square subway station.
The woman was on the northbound N/Q/R platform at the Times Square station.
The man said not one word to her, police say, as he pushed her onto the tracks.
By the time she got back up on the platform, the stranger who attacked her was escaping out the exit at Broadway and 40th Street.
Shocked riders said it’s too brazen, and the platforms are too unguarded.
“More police activity. If they see that more, I think if they see more cops on the subway and on the platforms, they’re not going to take a chance of doing nothing like that,” said Tony Rosario, of Woodhaven, Queens.
Looking at the crime statistics for the week of Oct. 5-11 and comparing them to the same period last year, despite the much lower ridership these days, there were eight attacks in that week, compared to only five a year ago, when the system was much more crowded.
The 60% increase has riders saying it reminds them to watch their backs, and where they stand on the platforms.
“I was thinking about it. Just stand as close to the center of the platform,” Garment District resident Joe Rosenberg told Carlin. “As far as it happened, things are changing, the city is changed.”
Police said they believe the suspect may be a homeless man who fled the station. He’s described as 40 to 50 years old, shaggy hair, a beard and disheveled looks. He was last seen wearing a navy blue jacket and dark colored pants.
Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
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