A transit worker is being praised for his quick actions in stepping in to help an NYPD officer involved in a bloody brawl with a teen inside a Manhattan subway station.
One minute, the worker was repairing a MetroCard machine at the 125th Street and Lexington Avenue station in East Harlem on Saturday — the next, he was grappling with a suspect who was fighting a transit cop. While the video went viral for the 16-year-old suspect's seemingly fearless aggression toward the cop, the actions of hte worker may not have been as widely noticed.
On Thursday, his colleagues made sure that the worker received credit for his actions. Leaders with the Transit Workers Union Local 100 praised the man (who did not want to be identified, fearing retaliation by the teen) for coming to the defense of a cop struggling to subdue the teen.
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"I seen a police officer in a dangerous situation, being held in a chokehold on the ground. So I knew I had to intervene so that’s why I went over to help him out," the transit worker said.
He said that what he feared most was that the attacking teen, who faces charges including assault on a police officer, could have reached for the officer's service weapon.
"I was concerned about the safety of the officer and for the safety of the public if he grabbed his weapon," the worker said.
The wild video that has since gone viral showed the violent confrontation. Police said the officers initially approached the two teens, a boy and a girl, about skipping on their subway fare. The cops told the pair to leave the station, which is when the boy started getting aggressive, according to police.
The video shows the officer and teen fighting, with the officer holding handcuffs before the teenager starts throwing punch after punch at the officer's head. The officer fights back, before the younger man slams him into a subway gate and then places him into a chokehold on the station floor.
But the man who recorded the video said that an officer was the one who got physical first, saying that "from what I saw and other witnesses saw, the cop did shove him back there."
Matthew Rue said that the male officer and his partner went over to the two teens initially not because of jumping the turnstile, but rather because they were arguing loudly in the station.
"She's a female, he's a guy, they were just making sure she was OK," Rue said, adding that the officer then tried to physically push the teen girl out of the station.
"He initially calmly asked the cop to apologize," said Rue of the teen. But things only got more heated from there, and led him to start recording the ensuing tussle that quickly turned into a bloody brawl.
Police experts said that the teen, whose identity is being protected because he is a juvenile, is not exactly a stranger to crime. Sources told NBC New York he was arrested in 2021 for possession of a loaded gun.
Both then and after Saturday's incident, the teen was released on his own recognizance the following day, which some in law enforcement said is part of the problem.
"Arrested with a gun, he walks out. Fights with a police officer, he walks out. What's next, does he shoot someone? Kill someone?" asked former NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, now a contributor for NBC New York.
Monahan blamed Raise the Age legislation that keeps the teen's cases in family court, not criminal court.
"There has to be some discretion with individuals like this, to see if they should be in much more severe situation," he said.
The video of the incident prompted Mayor Eric Adams to call for more changes to New York’s bail laws.
"It has to outrage you. Six days ago, he robbed an innocent New Yorker, reportedly. And he was out to assault the police officer," said Adams.
But the State Assembly Speaker responded, saying the teen’s alleged offenses were eligible for bail. As squabbles over criminal justice reform intensify - Transit Union leaders said they are working on new safety protocols not only for their members
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said that the teen was released after his first offense in 2021 because they view "community monitoring was the appropriate pre-trial determination for a 15-year-old child with no previous reports."
As squabbles over criminal justice reform intensify, transit union leaders said they are working on new safety protocols not only for their members, "but also for the public to gain trust. Regain the ridership and make sure the subway system is safe. To make sure the subway is safe and efficient and make sure the buses are safe and efficient."
They also said it was important to recognize their co-worker for bravely stepping in to help a cop, because otherwise, it might have gone unnoticed.
