NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – New video from the transit union TWU Local 100 shows a man trying to get into a Queens subway booth after an MTA conductor says the man spat at and threatened him with a razor early Monday morning.
Conductor Kevin Rivera was getting off work when he said the man began harassing him on a Manhattan-bound 7 train at the Flushing–Main Street station.
Rivera took the train one stop to the Mets–Willets Point station, where the man continued to follow him, the conductor said.
Rivera told the New York Post that the man spat at him and threatened him with a razor blade.
“He came close enough so he could spit at me. This was disgusting. It was like a snot, or boogers or something,” Rivera said. “I ran for my life. I was petrified. I was scared. I didn’t feel safe at all. There was no cops there, there was nothing over there.”
Rivera said he sought refuge in the subway booth at Mets–Willets Point. Video shows a man trying to get inside the booth, while saying, “You scared” and “You don’t want to fight?”
Officers arrived about 20 minutes later, but the man was not taken into custody, according to the report.
An NYPD spokesman told the Post that police are investigating the incident after Rivera reported it.
Violent crimes in the transit system are up 82% in the last four weeks alone. The NYPD said it would use dozens of new academy graduates to patrol the transit system amid the dramatic spike in violent crimes.
The MTA renewed calls this month for additional police and mental health resources in the subway to ease customers’ fears of violence as the city looks to make a comeback from the pandemic.
An off-duty subway conductor was hospitalized last week after he was slashed in the face at a subway station in Brooklyn.
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