LOWER EAST SIDE — A straphanger punched a subway conductor in the face after the passenger made his way into the train cab over the weekend, police said.
The attack occurred on a northbound J train at the Essex Street station at about 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 22, police said, after the 45-year-old conductor and the passenger got into an argument.
The conductor, who was identified as Vickram Sorenda in reports, was caught off guard by the attack, according to CBS New York.
“I was dazed for a second, and I’m like, ‘Wow, he just hit me!’” Sorenda told the news station. The man also hit other subway riders when they tried to intervene, the station reported.
The conductor was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital, according to an MTA spokeswoman. She called the attack “extremely disturbing” and said the agency was “committed to the safety and security of our employees.”
“An assault on our employees is an attack on all of us,” she said in a statement. “We will continue to work with the NYPD to track down this individual and prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Lower East Side incident was the first of three unrelated incidents where subway conductors were attacked throughout the city Saturday night, according to reports.
For more recent crimes in the 7th Precinct and throughout the city, check out the map below.
