Two men, including one victim in his 70s, were shoved onto subway tracks in Lower Manhattan. The man accused of pushing them is under arrest.
The platform was full of people, tired and just waiting to get home after a long day’s work.
Boubacar Balde almost didn’t make it.
“When I arrived, he just try to hit me, I was not expecting he was going to hit me like that,” Balde said. He was punched in the shoulder so hard that he was thrown down onto the tracks.
It was a random slugging of a man who unleashed fury underground for no apparent reason.
Balde was the second to get knocked onto the tracks inside the Whitehall Street Station around 10:30 p.m. on Monday.
The first was a 71-year-old man who broke his elbow as Balde came to and hoisted himself up. The unrelenting attacker was waiting.
“When I go up – he follow me,” Balde said.
The suspected attacker, 35-year-old Terrell Coley, was arrested a short time after the attacks, and charged with second and third-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
He’s off the streets for now, but he’s left his mark on the victim’s mind.
“Someone can come and hit you like that. It’s making me just a little bit afraid,” Balde said.
Thankfully, neither victim was hit by the subway while on the tracks.
Transit crime is down citywide this year by 4.9%. But in the first precinct, where these assaults happened, it’s up nearly 50%.
