PHOTO: Investigators have asked for tips from the public to help identify the man wanted for assaulting an MTA maintenance worker.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Police last week reached out to the public for help in identifying a man wanted for flying into a rage in a Jamaica subway station and leaving a bruised and shaken Metropolitan Transportation Authority maintenance worker in his wake.
According to cops, the suspect approached the 61-year-old staffer last Sunday, Feb. 14, around 7:45 a.m. in the Sutphin Boulevard/Archer Avenue station and told the victim to give him back his cell phone, which the victim did not have. The suspect then punched the victim in the face, took his two-way radio and walked up to the mezzanine area—where he smashed the radio before he fled back into the station.
The individual is described as a 35- to 45-year-old black or Hispanic man, 5-foot-8, last seen wearing a black “Kangol” style hat, a dark-colored jacket and a lime green hooded sweatshirt. Station security footage also showed that the suspect had a black bicycle with him.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at (800) 577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips by logging onto NYPDCrimestoppers.com or by texting info to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
All correspondences are strictly confidential.
According to the latest NYPD statistics, roughly 5.5 million people ride the city rails every weekday; and there are fewer than seven major crimes system-wide each day.
In 2015, there were nearly two billion train passengers in the NYC subway. And 2,502 major crimes were reported in the system last year.
“It’s a place where your expectation of safety is even greater than in the street,” said Chief of Transit Joe Fox, “because you’re potentially more vulnerable, because it’s a train car, it’s a station – it’s not an area you can just walk away from quickly. And that’s why we work at keeping it safe.”
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
