A beggar injured a two-year-old boy on the New York City subway on Saturday, the latest violent incident to ravage public transportation.
The attack took place around 3:00 p.m. on a North C train in Manhattan on Saturday afternoon.
The New York Post reports that the train was on West 116th Street and Douglas Boulevard when the female beggar approached a mother and her boy, who were on the train, asking for money.
When the beggar got too close, the mother asked, “Could you please stay six feet away from you?”
A beggar injured a two-year-old boy on the New York City subway on Saturday, the latest violent incident to hit public transportation
The beggar, who has not been identified, disobeyed that request and stepped on the woman’s left foot.
“Why did you step on me?” the mother asked, before the beggar started to thrust wildly, contact the toddler at least once.
The toddler was left with visible injuries to his face and ear.
The attack only ended when a witness took the suspect from the mother and the child.
An ambulance took the boy to Mount Sinai-Saint Luke’s and he was later released.
The suspect, meanwhile, was able to flee when the train reached the next station. She is described as being in her forties, heavily built with a neck tattoo and a buzzcut. She was wearing a gray hoodie, faded jeans, boots, and a white mask.
PIX11 reports that it wasn’t the only Harlem metro attack this weekend.
On Sunday, a 32-year-old man was attacked on a train 2 north, near the 110th Street and Lenox stop.
Subway violence in NYC has spiked over the past month
The man sustained minor cuts to his limbs. The suspect in that attack, a man in dark clothing, also escaped arrest.
The attacks come amid a spike in subway violence for New York City in recent weeks.
A 21-year-old slasher was charged with murdering two homeless people on Train A earlier in February and is being held without bail.
Rigoberto Lopez is also charged with attempted murder after beating two other people in his deadly attack.
21-year-old Rigoberto Lopez is accused of murdering two homeless people and murdering two others
Police presence in the metro is increasing, although the MTA is asking for more support
Pictured: A train on the C line of the metro, the line where Saturday’s attack took place
Transit workers are calling for a resumption of the 24-hour metro schedule, which was suspended in May to allow cleaning of the station due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Employees claim that the nighttime hours when the metro is currently not running have become dangerous.
The MTA claims that five metro workers were attacked during the night hours when trains are shut down.
Since August, there have been nearly 300 allegations of intimidation against metro workers.
Currently, two more hours are being added to the operation of the system, although there will be no cleaning service every night from 2am to 4am.
The MTA recently requested the deployment of 1,500 additional agents in the NYPD subway system.
Instead, the NYPD sent less than half of that on Tuesday, adding 644 police officers to the subway stations.
Transit has suffered greatly since the start of the pandemic, with a decline of about 90 percent as people work from home more often.