Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia/GeneralPunger
The victim was attacked in the Queens Plaza subway station.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A Manhattan man has been charged with beating and robbing a woman on Thursday at the Queens Plaza subway station in Long Island City; a second man has been charged with using the victim’s credit card hours after the assault, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Monday.
William Blount, 57, was arraigned Monday evening a six-count complaint charging him with attempted murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. If convicted, Blount faces up to 25 years in prison.
According to the charges, at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24, the 58-year-old victim entered the Queens Plaza subway station and was approached from behind by Blount. As alleged, Blount began to kick the woman down the stairs, struck her on the head multiple times with a hammer, then grabbed the victim’s blue tote bag from her arm and fled the location.
The victim was immediately transported to an area hospital where she continues to be treated for a skull fracture, an intercranial hemorrhage, along with bruising and swelling to her head.
According to the complaint, the second defendant arrested in this case is Denise Alston, 57, of St. Albans. Alston was taken into custody the following day, Feb. 25, at approximately 10:25 p.m. on a commercial strip of 21st Street. Alston allegedly made a $19 purchase using a blue credit card bearing the name of the subway attack victim. Additionally, police recovered the assault victim’s Chase Freedom Visa card, two department store cards and the victim’s New York City identification card allegedly from the wallet of Alston.
Alston was arraigned Monday afternoon on a complaint charging her with criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, identity theft in the third degree, and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree. If convicted, Alston faces up to four years in prison.
“This was a brutal, gratuitous attack. As alleged, the defendant kicked the victim down a stairwell during a robbery and struck her repeatedly with a hammer and with such force that he fractured the woman’s skull and caused other serious injuries. The subways are too integral to the lifeblood of our city for riders to be terrorized when using them. The violence has to stop,” Katz fumed.
“Last night’s vile, unprovoked attack on healthcare hero Nina Rothschild is chilling and sadistic beyond words. Our thoughts, first and foremost, are with Nina, as well as her family and Health Department colleagues. We pray she makes a full physical and emotional recovery, and that the individual who perpetrated this heinous crime against her is prosecuted to the fullest extent,” Borough President Donovan Richards, Jr. said. “No one should feel unsafe in their community or feel like a target in their local subway station. In the wake of this savage assault, the NYPD must increase its presence at the Queens Plaza stop and the surrounding subway stations in the immediate area to give Western Queens residents the peace of mind they deserve as they move in and out of the transit system.”
