NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Police have made a second arrest in connection to last week's hammer attack on a woman at a Queens subway station.
The incident happened around 11:20 p.m. last Thursday at the Queens Plaza E/M/R subway station in Long Island City.
The 57-year-old victim, identified as Nina Rothschild, a researcher for the city's Department of Health, was walking down the stairs into the station when the suspect kicked her in the back and then struck her at least 13 times in the head with a hammer before fleeing with her purse.
Police on Sunday arrested 57-year-old William Blount and charged him with attempted murder, robbery and assault.
On Monday, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that a second person, identified as 57-year-old Denise Alston of St. Albans, accused of using the victim's credit card just hours after the incident has also been charged.
Alston was taken into custody on Friday after allegedly making a $19 purchase at a liquor store using a Chase Freedom Visa card bearing the name of the subway attack victim.
Police later found the Chase card along with Rothschild's Citi Bank, Macy's rewards card, Talbots credit card and New York City identification card in Alston's wallet.
Alston first told police that she found the card on the street, before stating "that she got the card from an individual named William," according to a criminal complaint. She later picked Blount's face out of a photo array at a Queens police station.
Alston is charged with criminal possession of stolen property, petit larceny, identity theft and criminal possession of a controlled substance. If convicted, she faces up to four years in prison.
The victim, who was on her way home from work at the time of the attack, suffered a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain, bruising and swelling to her head, and lacerations to her face. She remains hospitalized in critical condition.
According to a criminal complaint, Blount allegedly told his uncle after the attack, "I just did a lick, I needed to get some things." When he was taken into custody, Blount was wearing the same clothes as seen in surveillance video of the incident.
“This was a brutal, gratuitous attack," Katz said. "The subways are too integral to the lifeblood of our City for riders to be terrorized when using them. The violence has to stop.”
Blount, who has a previous robbery conviction dating back to 1994, is due back in court on Thursday. He faces up to 25 years in prison, if convicted.
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