MTA brass are standing up against worker assaults after a Staten Island man was charged with accosting an employee on Thursday.
Police said the incident happened just before 7 a.m,, when the 30-year-old man was riding the bus. An employee who works with the MTA’s EAGLE team – made up of unarmed guards tasked with enforcing ride fares – asked the man for his proof of fare. That was when he stood up and allegedly punched the worker in the face, police said.
Other MTA workers held him down until police arrived and arrested him, officials said Thursday.
Flanked by MTA workers outside Manhattan Criminal Court where the suspect was waiting to be arraigned, MTA President Richard Davey said violence toward MTA workers won't be tolerated.
“The full thrust of MTA and New York City Transit, the folks behind me, are here to demand justice, and to say enough is enough of assaulting MTA workers," Davey said Thursday. “What happened today, completely unacceptable. The men and women behind me are trying to do the work of New York City Transit collecting fares that folks should be paying because there are a lot of hard working New Yorkers who are.”
Davey said the MTA worker had cataract eye surgery last week.
“There's actually an additional medical concern about that assault. It’s just outrageous,” Davey said. “As far as I know, he's okay, but he was going to see his eye doctor this afternoon to see if that cataract surgery — if he had any residual effects. So I hope the answer is no, but more to come.”
The suspect was charged with felony assault of an MTA employee and obstructing governmental administration, according to the NYPD.
Officials first announced the plans to deploy EAGLE teams to bus hubs in August to crackdown on fare evasion after noticing an uptick, especially on buses. At the time officials reported 30% to 35% of bus riders skip the fare, and a report released by the MTA earlier in the year estimated that the agency lost $700 million last year to fare evasion — $315 of which was on buses.
Assaulting an MTA employee is a Class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
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October 27, 2023 at 06:10AM
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'Enough is enough': MTA head calls for justice after employee assaulted on Manhattan bus - Gothamist
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