A woman was blindsided by a roundhouse punch to the head in a violent and brutal robbery caught on camera in the New York City subway.
The attack happened around 6 p.m. Sunday as a woman was getting off the L train in Manhattan's Stuy-Town neighborhood. The victim was caught off guard by the assault in broad daylight in which she never saw her attacker.
"I was just coming home from uptown and I was getting off the subway, and I just felt something hit the side of my head and I fell over," said the 23-year-old victim, who did not want to be identified. After she went down, she said her attacker continued his onslaught.
"Once I was on the ground, he hit me again and just said, 'Give me your bag,' and then grabbed my bag and left," she told NBC New York. She will require an MRI after suffering head injuries in the attack.
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The victim said she doesn't want what happened to her to happen to anyone else, a notion echoed by interim MTA President Sarah Feinberg — who said the attack at the First Avenue and East 14th Street station hits close to home.
"It's an appalling video and it's an appalling incident," Feinberg said. "That's my home station, it's blocks blocks from my house. It's the station I use almost every day. I know exactly where it happened."
Feinberg said she's asking the NYPD to put more cops underground in the subway system, saying that "the system is safe but I fell like it could be safe. That's why I keep pushing the city to give me more resources to make sure the system is as safe as it can be."
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While overall crime in the subways — which are set to resume 24/7 service — is down year-over-year, the statistics don't provide much comfort for the woman who said she is always aware of her surroundings, but was blindsided by the attack.
"I'm always concerned about my safety, I have an alarm on my keys. I'm always thinking about it. Just caught me off-guard because it was from behind and it was during the daytime," she said.
Police are looking to identify the attacker. No arrests have been made.
