By Carol Tannenhauser
A 78-year-old man was punched repeatedly about his face by two individuals — a man and a woman — while traveling “southbound on a #1 train approaching the 96th Street and 7th Avenue [Broadway] subway station, on Thursday at around 3:30PM,” police reported. Why did they do it? Allegedly because he asked one of the individuals — described as “approximately 6′ tall, weighing 185 lbs, with an athletic build” — to lower the volume of the music he was playing through a speaker.
“The individual and his companion proceeded to punch the elderly male multiple times about the face,” the police report continued. “The victim sustained bruising and lacerations to his face and exited the train at the aforementioned station and was transported by EMS to Mount Sinai Saint Luke’s [Morningside] hospital, in stable condition. The two individuals remained on the train and are believed to have detrained at the 34th Street subway station. There are no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing.”
These are the individuals sought:
“Male, dark complexion, approximately 6’0″ tall, weighing 185 lbs., with an athletic build and a goatee. He was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a graphic on the front, a red bandana, gray jeans, a multi-colored backpack and white Nike sneakers.”
“Female, dark complexion, medium build, long brown hair, brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black hooded jacket with a fur lining, a black t-shirt, orange sweatpants, black sneakers and wearing black glasses.”
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly confidential.
Is that footage from the new subway car cameras or from someone’s phone? If it’s from the subway cameras, that is some amazing clarity on zoomed in.
Seems like I’ve read this story before, but it just the same thing again and again. It’s insane how people don’t see the relationship between not enforcing the law and the number of people breaking the law.
Any time someone brings up police enforcing “quality of life” issues, it always gets pushed as “why don’t you go after real criminals!??!” In reality, the quality of life issues, is exactly how things start and then escalate to “real criminals.”
I would argue these two individuals, when caught and if found guilty, are criminals. Violence against someone else is a crime. Unprovoked and not in self defense.
When two people beat a sole 78-old man multiple times, it could be interpreted as attempted murder. I’d think that’s considered a crime.
Can someone with some legal expertise please opine on whether the attack described here would be considered a misdemeanor or a felony? Is it considered ‘violent crime’? I am just trying to understand what sorts of actions are considered ‘not serious’ when our leadership points out that serious and/or violent felonies are down year over year.
I am very interested to see what the punishment will be for these actions. A light tap on the wrist no doubt, in the name of systemic criminal justice reform.
It’s a Felony , because the victim is over 65 years old.
An attack like this should be a felony regardless of age.
Not a lawyer but let’s be real the DA’s have let people who have done far worse walk.
Assault in the 1st Degree – (a) causes serious physical injury to a person with a weapon or(b) intentionally disfigures another person. This is a felony.
Assault in the 2nd degree – (a) With intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person; (b) With intent to cause physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument; or (c) With intent to cause physical injury to a person who is sixty-five years of age or older, he or she causes such injury to such person, and the actor is more than ten years younger than such person. This is a felony
Assault in 3rd degree – (a) You intentionally physically injure another person or (b)
you injure a third party when you intended to injure another person. This is a misdemeanor.
Based on the statutes, at a minimum this is assault in the 2nd degree (age of victim). Depending on the severity of injuries it could raise to assault in 1st degree
Bragg wouldn’t prosecute.
They should be slapped with a hate crime.
Good grief. (I know we can’t trust police reports, and allegations don’t tell the whole story…but sheez!.) These presumably able bodied adults did this? At 3:30 in the afternoon? I hope other witnesses are found, the older victim recovers and receives some recompense, and these two are stopped from doing further harm. Kudos to the anonymous photographers / cameras. Will public acting out ever calm down again?
I can’t believe a native New Yorker would be naive enough to ask people to lower the music. You don’t do that, you either live with it or you wait for the next stop to switch cars. Of course he got beat up. So sad.
People do that unfortunately. I guess some still believe our fellow citizens have the basic courtesy and consideration of others (apparently not) or some are just too fed up being in this chaos day in and day out so they need to say something. Besides, why should anyone live in this fear – fear of speaking up, fear of getting attacked, etc? Anyways, I hope the victim recovers well.
In what world does this response make sense?
I was on a crowded downtown #1 train yesterday at 5 pm. An individual got on at 125 St with a speaker blasting music at ear splitting levels, not one person, 8-80 male or female said a word. Everyone just stood and sat there as if it was normal behavior all the way to 96 street. Would you speak up? This is the world we live in. Like it or not.
In our world. Common sense tells you to mind your own business unless there’s real danger. And common sense tells you that anyone playing loud music – possibly an aggressive behavior – has no consideration for others (That does not justify what happened, of course.)
So it was his fault? No it wasn’t. These two people need to go to jail.
What a ridiculous comment. It may not be the smartest thing to ask someone to lower their music, particularly because playing music in a subway car is obviously a provocative thing to do, but can we stop blaming the victim here? Sheesh
Much as we dislike it, it is imprudent and unsafe to ask that the volume be turned down.
Interesting to note that at least one Rag reader is still playing the world’s favorite sport: Blame the Victim!
I’m not blaming the victim. The world is not a rainbow coloring book. There are many times in life where it’s wiser to your physical safety to walk away rather than engage. These two people were not physically harming anyone; they were being obnoxious / rude / disruptive with their music. If it bothered the old man, he should have waited until the next stop and switched cars.
Well this native New Yorker remembers that once upon a time one could ask a fellow rider to turn down the volume and would never ever be attacked for it!! These thugs now just act on their sick impulses because even if they are arrested, they will be let free. Thanks to the so-called Democratic “progressives” who have killed all that was once good and safe in NYC. Vote. Wisely. Next. Time.
Imagine if everyone played their music loudly.? What entitlement these people feel that they don’t even to follow the rules of society and community. They get to act like this because the rest of us act civil.
He was right. There is an MTA regulation that you must use ear phones on your electronic device. The era of the boom box died out in the 1980s. They were wrong. Not to mention the part about responding with fists. And you live in fear because two perps decided to break the law? No one is supposed to tolerate law breakers and people who disrupt the subway system. There is no “of course you just have to live with criminals.” That’s absurd.
How is this not a hate crime? And how didn’t anyone stop this from happening?
We aren’t a community until we’re willing to step up.
Other people might have been afraid that those two would come after them next if they got involved.
I don’t care how afraid you are. He’s an old man. There are just times when you have to stand up for others whether it poses a danger to you or not. If you don’t, the danger is to your character. You have to go to the rest of your life knowing you were the coward who would not stand up for an old man.
Those are rhetorical questions, right?
Asking someone to lower their music (even though he was in the right) is risking getting assaulted. And the people in the photo even if caught will not spend a day in jail. They may have to take an anger management class but that’s about it. I bet the guy who punched Rick Moranis never spent a day in Jail. And thus that’s why the subways and community feels much unsafer these days.
@JLD Moranis’ assailant’s sentence … MANHATTAN (PIX11) — A man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to attacking “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” actor Rick Moranis in 2020, officials said.
Marquis Ventura was promised a sentence of two years in prison followed by three years of post-release supervision, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. He pleaded guilty to assault in the second degree along with six additional charges related to four other victims: four counts of assault in the third degree, attempted assault in the second degree and petit larceny.
So there you are, 2 years for destroying the lives of 6 families, and those are only ones we know about. There could be others that he wasn’t caught doing,.
Why do you say that ? According to his Dept. of Corrections file … DIN: 22B3929 … he served the entire 2-year sentence, was released on Oct.4th to serve 3 years probation. This is public information that can be easily searched on the DOC website.
Thanks for the update. I was not aware he served Jail time. The reason I said that though was frequently violent assaults in NYC the assailant serves no jail time.
I was randomly punched in the face at the 72nd St. subway and the assault was witnessed by a Police Officer and two bystanders. All who saw it and gave their reports to Police Dept.. At first the DA was going to prosecute the case but then let the assailant plea bargain down to anger management classes. At least I had a civil case against the person and won a nice sum in a Jury Trial.
He should have been made to work and repay that “nice sum.”
Really excellent pictures of the perpetrators. Just judging by the angle, it looks like the pictures were taken by a seated passenger.
I can’t believe people on this feed are actually criticizing the nearly 80 year old man for speaking up. New Yorkers are tired of being assaulted by out of control noise pollution that has become commonplace in the past couple years. It’s a tough enough city as it is, we should at least be able to commute without someone else’s obnoxious music blaring on a bluetooth speaker. Shame on the MTA and NYC Transit Police for allowing this kind of behavior to become so routine.
Please. Do you want to risk being slashed with a box cutter or punched in the head over loud music? I don’t. Walk. Away.
I assume you are not close to 80 and don’t have the same experiences as someone who has lived in the city that long. So stop being so judgmental and show some compassion.! Not everything is so cut and dry as you may think. I’ve lived here for 36 years and don’t always keep my mouth shut. Yes, sometimes I assess the situation and feel it is the right thing to say something.
Me, too. I respond all the time. I’m pushing 67, four feet, eleven inches tall, and thus far have been very lucky to have never been assaulted. I wonder if I give off the insane vibe myself. I have a very loud voice. A few years ago, I yelled at some teenagers on the subway who were loudly using the “N” word constantly, until I finally exploded at them. They were so shocked they apologized profusely. and got off the train. You have to speak up when your vibe tells you to, but you also have to sense the crazy ones and let the cops handle them, if you can. It pays to have a sixth sense, but I am not sure it always kicks in.
I don’t think anyone is criticizing him. I think we are all dismayed that this would happen, but at the same time many people could easily predict it given our current climate of ‘criminal justice reform’ which basically means that unless you rape or murder someone, you should be let free and face minimal consequences…presumably off to beat old people in the face with impunity again. It is a sad commentary on where our city is, but it is predictable what happened to this man. No one is saying he did anything wrong.
SMH at the lawlessness. Not about guns or knives, it is when people are not afraid of committing any crime, anywhere and anytime that makes the society unsafe. Even if you take guns and knives out of these peoples’ hands, they can still use their fists.
Where are the signs that used to hang in the subways that laid out the rules? What happened to them? There is a lot of basic etiquette that is not followed. Things you would expect in a civil society. Though maybe there is the answer?
Sorry, Ellen S, but I have to laugh. Like criminals will read those signs? But more than laughing at that, I remember when we first moved here, 40 years ago. I was eating an ice cream cone, and as my husband and I were about to walk down the subway steps he turned to me and said “you better finish that before we go downstairs, I don’t think you’re allowed to eat on the subway train.”
Ah, talk about a different time.
Yes. Post meant in gest. Hopefully in 40 yrs from now ppl won’t be saying, remember when ppl thought beating another rider up because they asked someone to lower their music was something ppl even talked about? Times do change. Not sure for the better and honestly all the food mess in the subway is gross. Along with syringes, crack pipes, and human feces. Bring back signs pls.
Try attending one of your police precinct’s monthly community meetings. You will learn that this type of beating isn’t even considered assault in New York. It’s qualified as being harassment and it’s a misdemeanor.
Sadly these are the laws that people voted for. People demonized and wanted to defund the police, supported bail reform without understanding the details and ramifications encompassed by and associated with this reform and now we are all reaping the “benefits” of these changes. Please write to Governor Hochul, Carl Heastie, Andrea Stewart Cousins to voice your concerns and know that things will not get better, and will continue on this downward spiral, until you vote for different leadership.
These two are animals…there is no place in civilized society for such behavior.
I came to live in NYC 40 years ago… In the course of my experience here never did we see this kind of disgusting behavior enacted on the subways. . What selfish impolite pigs these people are. And how dare they terrorize other riders on the trains. Put their pictures up on the platforms and in other public spaces.. Shame the bastards! No it’s not acceptable behavior .. Either to play loud music or to attack someone in the subway. Nowhere else in the whole world would this kind of behavior be acceptable. Come on NY put an end to this or it’s gonna get a lot worse….!
Mayor Bait and Switch doesn’t care.
You must have a very short memory. Forty years ago, the subway was covered in graffiti, platforms and trains were filthy and dangerous and violent crime rates were easily three times as high as they are now.
Locate them. Charge them. Try them. If found guilty – jail them for at least 5 years, no early parole.
Thank you for reporting this horrific incident.
That is called ELDER ABUSE and is a crime that Hochul will not talk about!
Our Seniors take the SUBWAY to go to the Doctor – often weekly!
But it is now too dangerous in broad daylight!
And check out the Mayor’s twitter – at a party most nights! So disappointing!
Even if caught, they will face absolutely no punishment.
The tactic I use today (although I know I shouldn’t) is to ask them to make it louder because I can’t hear the music. I developed this back when cassette boomboxes were de rigueur on the subway (and on UWS streets).
Isn’t great there will be more people with guns both on the subway and on the streets: what could go wrong?
That is funny, but it’s honestly not worth it. Don’t potentially put yourself in harm’s way from someone who likely won’t appreciate your wit.
In 1984, Bernie Goetz did get fed up on the subway. I have been waiting for that to happen again, with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Me too!!!!