Elderly riders bear brunt of rising New York City subway attacks
A woman, who ended up in hospital after being shoved onto the tracks at a station, said ‘nobody’s doing anything’ about the spike in assaults
Attacks on elderly straphangers are fuelling a spike in felony assaults within the New York City subway system, according to New York Police Department’s transit chief Joseph Gulotta.
As the NYPD contends with a 9 per cent jump in felony assaults in the city transit system this year, the department’s transit chief said roughly half of all attacks on the rails are targeting a few select groups.
“What is driving them is assaults on police officers, assaults on MTA workers and assaults on the elderly,” Gulotta told a news briefing at the NYPD’s Manhattan headquarters on Friday. “When you put those three together, that’s almost 50 per cent of felony assaults.”
“That’s something we’re really geared up on. It’s something we take very seriously.”