A woman was pushed onto the tracks at a Brooklyn subway station in an unprovoked attack, law enforcement sources said.
The 40-year-old woman was waiting on the platform at the Borough Hall station just before 2 p.m. Friday, according to sources. That’s when she was suddenly pushed from behind and punched in the head by a homeless man, officials said.
The random attack caused her to fall onto the tracks. Thankfully, another Good Samaritan jumped down to help her. When that man offered his help, he was also attacked by the suspect, sources said.
While the woman suffered injuries to her head and legs, neither she nor the man who helped her were seriously hurt.
Right after the attack, the suspect got away on a Manhattan-bound 2/3 train. Hours later, police tracked down Franklin Ovenseri and charged the 35-year-old with assault.
A motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
The attack comes after other random acts of violence on subways in recent weeks, including a man who went after an 8-year-old boy in the Bronx and a woman arrested for throwing bleach in a rider’s face at a station on 14th Street in Manhattan.
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“We need to protect ourselves, we need to know where the exits are, where the turnstiles are, if there is people working in the subways, be near them because they have ways to communicate with the police, said Manny Gomez, President of MG Security Services. “Clearly if there is a police officer patrolling that station, try to be near him or her, or try to be near the car where the conductor is because that conductor … is able to communicate quickly with law enforcement if needed.”
