Three men, including two senior citizens, were injured in a series of unprovoked attacks in New York City’s subway system early Tuesday morning. The first incident occurred at around 12:25 a.m. on a northbound A train at the Ozone Park-Lefferts Boulevard station in Queens. An unstable man struck a 32-year-old passenger in the head with a metal pole, causing a visible cut on the victim’s neck. Despite the injury, the victim declined medical attention at the scene. The attacker, identified as Wesley Saint-Vil, 27, was apprehended shortly after and charged with felony assault. Saint-Vil has a history of nine prior arrests, with most of them sealed except for three, including a recent arrest for petit larceny in Upper Manhattan.
In another incident, a man named Borden assaulted a 61-year-old man outside a Queens housing facility for homeless veterans in an unprovoked attack. The violence continued when a 71-year-old man was repeatedly punched and kicked by a stranger on the platform of the southbound A train at 175th Street, resulting in multiple cuts on the victim’s head and nose. The elderly man was taken to Harlem Hospital in stable condition. The assailant, described as having a dark complexion, fled the scene on an A train wearing a navy blue sweatshirt, gray pants, and a black backpack.
During the morning rush hour, a 65-year-old man was punched by a stranger on a southbound L train at the Third Avenue station in the East Village. The victim had asked the commuter standing over him to move back, but the individual refused and eventually punched the man in the back of the head, causing a large bump. The victim received medical treatment at the scene, while the attacker, described as a man in his 30s wearing a gray sweater with a gold chain, remains at large.
These incidents highlight a slight increase in assaults within the city’s subway system this year, with 476 reported attacks on the rails as of Sunday, according to NYPD data. This marks a slight uptick from the 462 assaults reported during the same period last year. The NYPD continues to investigate these incidents and work towards ensuring the safety of commuters in the city’s transit system.
