An on-duty MTA employee was beaten by a maniac in a white hoodie and matching sweatpants after he asked him to quit smoking inside a Queens subway station Wednesday night, cops and the Transit Worker’s Union said.
The 51-year-old train operator was on the southbound E train platform inside the 71st Ave. subway station in Forest Hills around 10:00 p.m., when the arugment began, according to police and Transport Workers Union Local 100 President John Chiarello.
A man in a white hoodie and matching sweatpants socked the worker in the face multiple times on the southbound E train platform, police said. DCPI
A 51-year-old MTA employee was beaten by a man in a brutal attack inside the 71st Ave. subway station in Forest Hills, cops said.
The assailant then began to viciously attack the MTA employee, socking him multiple times in the face before fleeing the scene on an outbound train, cops said.
The operator suffered a fractured finger and a broken lip, according to Chiarello.
EMS rushed the brutalized MTA worker to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he is in stable condition, according to authorities.
In a statement about the attack, Chiarello criticized the MTA for lacking initiatives to keep MTA employees safe in the subway.
“These attacks are not a new problem, and we have been sounding the alarm, showing up to court hearings and standing by our members who have been assaulted on a regular basis for years. At what point do others who have the power to make change step in?” Chiarello said in a statement.
The attacker is still in the wind, police said.
