NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The NYPD released images Tuesday of a man suspected of randomly kicking a subway rider onto the tracks at Penn Station over the weekend—as the victim credited subway "angels" for saving his life and the governor prepared to announce more resources to combat a spike in transit crime.
The 64-year-old victim, Abu Khan, was attacked Sunday afternoon at 34th Street–Penn Station, just the latest in a string of headline-grabbing transit attacks in recent weeks.
Khan, a married father of two from Queens, had gotten off work at the U.S. post office on Eighth Avenue and was waiting for an E train around 4:45 p.m. when a man mumbled something to him.
The unhinged stranger then position himself behind Khan and kicked him, sending him plummeting onto the tracks.
Khan told WABC-TV he's alive thanks to three riders who immediately jumped into action to save him, just as a train was rolling into the station.
He said the good Samaritans "looked like angels" as they climbed down to help him. "They saved my life."
Khan suffered bleeding on his brain and continues to experience severe pain to his back, leg and arm, but he said he's thankful to be alive.
It was far from the only transit attack to make headlines recently. In fact, the subway shoving at Penn was among several high-profile assaults over the weekend; the others included the beating of a 17-year-old girl at the 168th Street A/C station in Washington Heights and the slashing of a man on an A train near the 34th Street–Penn Station stop.
And just last Thursday, a subway conductor was nearly killed when his neck was slashed unprovoked on an A train in Bedford-Stuyvesant. On Monday, there was an emotional reunion between the conductor and a doctor, Patrick McGrory, who was on the train and raced to save his life by applying pressure to the slash wound.
"You're a good man, you're my angel," the conductor, Alton Scott, told McGrory.
The attacks come as the latest NYPD data shows transit crime spiked 13% across January and February, compared to the same two months in 2023.
On Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to announce additional resources to combat transit crime, including more cops in the subway, following meetings with Mayor Eric Adams and MTA leadership.
"People want to see that," the governor said Monday. "They've been asking for it. We are going to give that."
Some 1,000 officers are already being surged into the transit system each day—a response to several homicides in transit in the first weeks of 2024.
Meanwhile, the group Passengers United planned to hold a rally outside Hochul's Midtown office on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday's announcement.
The group has a list of suggestions they'd like to see implemented, including improving police response time; adding more cops on platforms; closing isolated subway entrances at night; adding 1,000 beds for the severely mentally ill; and bringing in the National Guard or state troopers to help homeless people in the short term.