NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A suspect was arrested and charged Monday in a callous attack at a subway station in in Long Island City, Queens.
Jerone Blakely, 44, whose address is listed at a homeless shelter on the Bowery, was charged with second-degree assault, police said.
As CBS2’s Scott Rapoport reported, police said the assailant shoved a 69-year-old man down the stairs at the 36th Street M and R train station around 1:30 p.m. this past Wednesday.
Police sources told CBS2 detectives that someone recognized the suspect him from surveillance video and called in a tip, sources said.
The suspect was picked up Monday afternoon in Greenwich Village, sources said.
Meanwhile, many subway riders were suffering from frayed nerves Monday after the cruel and seemingly unprovoked attack. The platform is usually quiet, but commuters are watching their backs, CBS2’s Ali Bauman reported.
“It’s bad. It’s terrible, because it can happen to anybody,” one subway patron said.
“There’s no justification for any attack on anyone,” said subway rider Anthony Ebije.
“I thought it was horrible,” said Rene Melvin of Jamaica, Queens.
The attack landed the victim in the hospital with a fractured knee.
“Makes me feel bad because I’m also a senior citizen too,” said Laverne Mallory of Brownsville, Brooklyn. “Could have been me coming down those stairs.”
Police said the victim told them he felt hands pushing him from behind. The suspect said nothing to him before the attack.
“You’ve got to worry about it. You know, worry if anything is going to happen to you going down the train station,” another rider said.
“That’s the way of the world today, people are wicked and evil,” another woman told Rapoport.
Police said following the attack, he ran from the subway station, up to the street, and away from the crime.
The victim is expected to recover from his injuries.