An "emotionally disturbed person" shoved an elderly woman off a New York City subway platform and onto the tracks below Saturday morning, the New York Post reported, citing police sources.
WABC-TV reported that the attack was random.
'Now that I’m getting older, I am more concerned about safety on the subway, and I try to stay away from the edge.'
The 70-year-old unidentified victim was on the northbound side of the 57th Street and 7th Avenue station just before 11:30 a.m. when the suspect approached her from behind and shoved her down to the tracks, police told the Post.
Witnesses jumped down to the tracks and pulled the woman back upon the platform, the paper said.
The victim was taken to Cornell Hospital in stable condition; she was being treated for a head wound, police added to the Post.
The suspect's name wasn't immediately released, but police sources told the paper said he's a known "emotionally disturbed person." The suspect was arrested, the Post said, adding that charges were pending against him.
Two women who work at a midtown Manhattan hotel told the paper they pray for their own safety on their daily train ride to and from Astoria.
"I leave my life in the hands of God. Nothing else," Maria Giannoutsos, 61, told the Post, adding that "you never know what can happen in one second."
Iljana Gilezan, 60, added to the paper that the attack left her "scared."
"You also have a lot of homeless on the train," she noted to the Post. "But we have to go to work, so we have to take the train, and I'm always looking straight to God to protect me."
Gilezan also praised the "courage" of the good Samaritans who pulled the elderly victim from the tracks, the paper said.
RELATED: Creep allegedly pushes man onto subway train tracks, runs off. But witnesses rescue victim just before train arrives at Bronx stop.
Paul Corley — a 67-year-old psychiatrist — told the Post he's concerned about senseless violence growing more frequent.
"Now that I'm getting older, I am more concerned about safety on the subway, and I try to stay away from the edge," he noted to the paper, adding that he was happy to see more metal barriers along the tracks.
"This is a scary story, but also an inspiring story," Corely also told the Post. "To get pushed and be saved by a fellow New Yorker is very inspiring."
Blaze News has reported extensively about similar attacks in New York City's subway system:
- An elderly man died in May after the suspect in his killing — who was in police custody just hours earlier — shoved him down subway entrance steps in New York City.
- A suspect who's been deported four times faced upgraded charges in March after an elderly man he's accused of shoving onto New York City subway tracks died.
- A great-grandfather was shoved onto New York City subway tracks and suffered a fractured spine in September while the arrested suspect claimed the victim "called me a woman."
- An award-winning artist was "instantly paralyzed" after being pushed into a moving train in a New York City subway attack in May 2023.
- An attacker allegedly pushed a man onto subway train tracks and ran off in October 2022, but witnesses rescued the victim just before a train arrived at the Bronx stop.
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[H/T Blaze Media]
