The maniac suspected of randomly shoving a woman into a moving Manhattan train — leaving her with life-threatening injuries — was busted on Thursday in New Jersey, where he’s believed to have at least two dozen prior arrests dating back over a decade, authorities said.
Sabir Jones, 39 — who allegedly pushed the unsuspecting 30-year-old victim into a departing downtown F train at the Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station around noon Wednesday — was spotted at McCarter Highway and Raymond Boulevard in Newark just over 24 hours later and detained by local cops, according to Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé.
His arrest came as law-enforcement sources said Thursday that Jones was believed to have attacked another straphanger at the same Midtown station just minutes before he allegedly shoved the woman — who hit her head on the train and then tumbled down onto the tracks, causing critical injuries that required brain surgery.
Jones allegedly slugged a 26-year-old man getting off a southbound E train in what also appeared to be a random attack, the law-enforcement sources said. That victim didn’t report the crime until nearly 8 p.m. — after seeing footage of Jones on the news, the sources said.
The suspect appears to be the same Sabir Jones who racked up at least 40 criminal cases in Essex County, NJ – including on weapons possession, drug, assault and sex crime charges – between 2012 and 2020, said Robert Florida, spokesperson for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Sabir Jones, 39, was nabbed in New Jersey Thursday afternoon, a day after the subway shove, sources said.
Jones was reported missing in Newark on March 3, 2021, with a Patch report about the then-37-year-old man’s disappearance stating he had diagnosed with depression and psychosis and was known to sleep at Newark Penn Station and frequent McCarter Highway.
Four days after he was reported missing, he allegedly committed drug and forgery-related crimes in Newark, according to the records the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office provided to The Post on Thursday.
As recently as February of 2022, he was linked to criminal cases related to aggravated assaults, terroristic threats, theft of property and smoking in prohibited places in Newark, the records show.
All but three of the cases in Essex County – domestic violence charges from July of 2021 – appeared to be closed.
The victim was taken to a hospital where she underwent surgery. Stephen YangA source who was granted access to some of his social service records told the New York Times the suspected subway assailant has a history of homelessness, mental illness and drug abuse.
Outreach workers from the Bowery Residents’ Committee interacted with him back in November 2021 at a Manhattan subway station, the Times reported.
There, he told the worker he’d been homeless for four years, used K2 and took psychiatric medications, the source told the paper.
An outreach worker encountered him a few weeks later at a station in Queens, determining that he’d be a suitable candidate for a less restrictive homeless shelter known as “safe haven,” because he “was able to demonstrate non-threatening behavior” and “communicated effectively with a friendly demeanor,” the Times reported.
Jones was mumbling to himself as he allegedly pushed the young woman into the train, the sources said. Stephen YangHowever, it does not appear that Jones ever went to the shelter, the source said.
Jones has one prior arrest in New York City from December 2022 for allegedly riding between subway cars on a J train at Norwood Avenue in Brooklyn, and then refusing to leave the station, police sources told The Post.
He was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, violation of local law and disorderly conduct, sources said.
Jones has also been connected to an April incident involving threats to a business on Chrystie Street near Broome Street on the Lower East Side, according to the sources.
He has two previous “emotionally disturbed person” incidents, the sources said.
Newark cops transferred Jones to the custody of the US Marshals Service after busting him on Thursday, Fragé said.
He was expected to be brought to the Big Apple to face charges.
Sources have said Jones was mumbling to himself as he allegedly pushed the young woman into the train unprovoked.
Someone then “immediately” called 911 as other good Samaritans helped pull the victim back up onto the platform, NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said at a press briefing Wednesday afternoon.
Jones allegedly attacked a second straphanger.
The gravely injured woman was heading either to or from work at the time of the attack, according to Kemper and police sources.
She underwent surgery — during which a significant portion of her skull was removed — and she remained hospitalized on Thursday.
Investigators identified the suspected shover “almost immediately based off video surveillance” from the station, Kemper said.
“This was a horrific crime, but I’m gratified that again the always exceptional NYPD police work led to a quick arrest,” MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said in a statement Thursday.
During the press briefing Wednesday, Lieber had called on the mental health system to properly evaluate the conditions of “these people who are having a disproportionate impact on the public space,” adding, “We feel for them, but we need for them to get in treatment and out of the public space.”
Mental health professionals “have to figure out how to get these people out of the public space and into treatment, so that they get in better condition for themselves. And more important for New Yorkers who are just trying to live their lives,” he said.
“In the last year, we have made tremendous progress on subway crime,” the chairman added. “But that’s no conciliation to the family of this young woman.”
Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks
