OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
11:40 AM – Wednesday, September 13, 2023
On Tuesday morning, a 74-year-old man was pushed onto the New York City subway tracks, leaving him with a fractured spine, police said.
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According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), the victim, who reportedly works at a parking garage on Fifth Avenue, was standing on the downtown No. 6 train platform at the 68th Street-Hunter College station on the Upper East Side at around 12:20 a.m.
Police said that the 74-year-old unidentified victim noticed an apparent homeless man pacing back and forth, cursing and muttering to himself.
The victim explained that he did not engage with the man.
After the victim finally walked past him, the homeless man sprung up suddenly and aggressively pushed him onto the subway tracks.
Officials claimed that the suspect appeared as a disheveled man who was wearing a dirty t-shirt who may be suffering from mental health issues.
“He was approached by an unknown individual who shoved the victim onto the tracks,” the NYPD declared in a statement. “The [suspect] was last seen fleeing out of the station to parts unknown. The victim was removed by EMS to NY Presbyterian Weill-Cornell Medical Center, in stable condition.”
According to reports, the elderly man then landed on the tracks, hurting his back and neck, and was assisted back up onto the platform by an on-duty Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) employee, police said.
Additionally, a spokesperson told reporters that the attack “appeared to be” unprovoked.
The victim’s injuries were believed to be minor at first, but according to the NYPD, doctors said that he suffered multiple rib and pelvic fractures, as well as a spine fracture and cuts on his fingers.
He was later transported to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
Police described the suspect as a male that is about 5’9″, weighs around 200 pounds, with a “medium complexion.”
“He has salt and pepper hair and a goatee,” investigators also said. “He was last seen wearing a black polo shirt, brown pants and black sneakers.”
Following the attack, police stated that the assailant bolted from the train station and escaped onto the street without speaking to anyone.
Detectives later released video footage of both the attack and the suspect leaving the station.
According to police, ten people in ten separate incidents have already been shoved onto subway tracks so far this year.
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