Troubling video shows a woman standing up from a subway platform bench and shoving another woman into the side of a moving train that had just entered a Times Square station in what appears to be a random attack, according to footage released by the New York Police Department on Monday.
Fox News reported that the female suspect, described by police as a 30-year-old woman wearing a multicolored scarf, black shirt and beige pants, was inside the 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue station when she shoved the 42-year-old victim.
In the footage, the attacker is seen calmly walking away immediately after shoving the victim into the side of the moving subway train. Officials said the victim of the attack did not fall onto the tracks, but was propelled by the moving train back onto the platform.
The woman suffered serious but not fatal facial injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital, PIX 11 reported.
Investigators searched the area and interviewed witnesses to the apparently unprovoked attack, but the suspect was not identified. Anyone with information is asked to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
New York City has been grappling with an uptick in violent attacks in subway stations, including one in June in which an off-duty cop was stabbed in the head with a pair of scissors near a station turnstile in a Manhattan. After that assault, and while still tending to his wound, the 29-year-old cop tailed the suspect onto the platform of Union Square subway station. When Benjamin Mazyck, 42, boarded the northbound uptown Q train, the officer had the train held until additional law enforcement arrived.
In May, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an additional 250 police officers would be deployed to subway stations, making the number of cops patrolling the transit system the highest its ever had.
Roughly 3,250 NYPD officers were directed to cover the transit system, including desk officers and supervisors who aren’t in the field.
“Anyone who commits an offense on the subways will be found, will be prosecuted, will be held accountable,” de Blasio said at a press conference. “We’re going to take officers and put them in right places in the subways at the right time, particularly at peak times of ridership.”
The extra officers patrol the stations during morning and evening rushes, earning overtime in addition to their typical shifts, an NYPD spokesman said.
