The man suspected of pushing his girlfriend onto Manhattan subway tracks in front of an oncoming train that resulted in her losing both of her feet has been arrested, NYPD said.
The couple was arguing around 10:30 a.m. Saturday on a train platform at Fulton Street station in New York’s financial district. The argument escalated and ended with the man shoving his girlfriend onto the tracks, police sources said.
An incoming Brooklyn-bound 3 train was unable to stop in time and hit the 29-year-old woman, severing both of her feet.
The woman was rushed to the nearby Bellevue Hospital in critical condition. MTA sources said the woman is currently in stable condition.
The man fled the scene but was apprehended Saturday evening, roughly ten hours after the incident. A 35-year-old Brooklyn man named Christian Valdez has been put under arrest on charges of attempted murder and felony assault, police said.
He allegedly confessed to pushing his girlfriend in front of the moving train when interviewed by police.
The train track was closed off as paramedics tended to the woman, and police investigated the scene. Southbound 2 and 3 trains had to be rerouted, impacting New York train service for several hours.
After a one-hour suspension, the MTA said the three trains were running again between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The terrible incident comes just days after New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a five-point plan to address rampant subway crime in the Big Apple.
The plan includes the deployment of 1,000 New York State police into the subway system—250 New York State and MTA police officers, as well as 750 National Guard members, will assist the 1,000 NYPD cops Mayor Eric Adams stationed at the subway last month after a 46 percent year-over-year uptick in transit crime was reported for January.
Ms. Hochul’s plan also includes further investment in surveillance, better coordination between the District Attorney and law enforcement agencies, and introducing legislative measures that allow judges to ban people convicted of assaulting commuters and transit workers from using train services.
The steady increase in violence over the past year has subway riders on edge.
Earlier this month, a 64-year-old postal clerk was kicked landed on the subway tracks at Penn Station after he was kicked in the back in what police described as an unprovoked attack. Fortunately, no trains entered the station as other passengers quickly helped the man off the tracks.
Two days before that incident, a 27-year-old man was attacked with a box cutter at the same station by a repeat offender.
