What to Know
- A woman was brutally beaten with her own cane inside a Manhattan subway station, police said, and the shocking attack was captured on video.
- The terrifying incident occurred just after 3 a.m. on Friday, according to the NYPD, at the 2/3 station at West 116th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem.
- NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said the man started beating the woman with her cane "dozens of time" and hitting her with a belt, striking her in the head and body during the attack that lasted roughly two minutes.
The man who was allegedly seen on video beating a woman with her own cane in a brutal attack at a Harlem subway station was arrested, according to police sources — but only after police supposedly had let him go free after they spoke with him in the aftermath of the incident.
Norton Blake was nabbed early Wednesday morning for the early morning beatdown inside the 2/3 station at West 116th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem on Sept. 1, police sources said. The 43-year-old Blake was charged with assault, according to police.
The terrifying incident occurred after the victim, a 60-year-old woman, got into an argument with the suspect as they were walking up the steps from the station.
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That's when Blake (pictured below) began hitting the woman repeatedly. NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said he started beating the woman with her cane "dozens of time" and hitting her with a belt, striking her in the head and body during the attack that lasted roughly two minutes.
Video showed the woman lying motionless until the man finally stopped.
News
Blake then took off, with police catching up with him five days later. Attorney information for Blake was not immediately available. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to assaulting an officer and resisting arrest after jumping the turnstiles in the subway at a different Harlem station, police said.
The victim was taken to NYC Health and Hospitals/Harlem with extensive bruising. She is expected to recover.
The morning after the incident occurred, police spoke with Blake at the scene — and let him go, NBC New York has learned.
"Under no circumstance should this woman have been beaten that way. There appears to be preliminary a cross-complaint situation here. It’s going to be flushed out," said NYC Mayor Eric Adams.
It’s unclear what the so-called cross-complaints were or if the NYPD had reviewed the video showing the attack.
Other commuters who saw the video Tuesday commented on how no one seemed to intervene or offered to step in to help the woman — and not being surprised.
"People don’t get involved like they used to," said Irene Richardson. "Thank God she's alive. That's a blessing in itself."
After some questioned why the station agent didn't try to help or intervene during the violent incident, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said the agent "did absolutely the right thing" in taking a video.
"She collected evidence by videoing what was going on, immediately contacted the rail control center where there is a NYPD officer stationed. So both contacting the RCC but also the NYPD, that actually brought on a fast response from the NYPD," said Lieber, who added that the agency is training agents how to deal with what he called "conflict situations."
An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information in regard to 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.
