Felony assaults in the city’s subway system jumped by nearly 22% last month compared to last year, according to MTA statistics released Monday.
Forty-five felony assaults were reported in the subway system in September – a 21.6% increase from the 37 such crimes recorded during the same month in 2022, the latest statistics released by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority show.
Overall from January to September, the Big Apple saw a 3% spike in felony assaults on the rails — with 422 such crimes reported compared to 411 during that period last year, according to the data.
That increase appeared to be driven by the assaults tallied in September – as stats from January through August indicated that such attacks were just about even, with just a slight dip, this year compared to last.
In one of the month’s terrifying crimes underground, an unhinged 43-year-old man, Norton Blake, allegedly struck a 60-year-old woman dozens of times with her own cane during a heinous caught-on-video attack on Sept. 1 inside the West 116 Street and Lenox Avenue station, cops said.
Derrick Mills, 49, was also nabbed for senselessly shoving a 74-year-old man onto the subway tracks at the 68th Street-Hunter College station on Sept. 12, leaving the victim with a fractured spine, cops said.
Another alleged assailant – identified by cops as Joel Ramirez, 26, sexually assaulted a 24-year-old woman at the 14th Street-Union Square subway hub – bashing her head on the platform and then snatching her phone as she tried to call 911 early on Sept. 24.
Still, overall felony crime in the city’s subway system was down by 5% in September, and 12.5% year-to-date compared to the same time frame in 2022, the latest data shows.
Murders, rapes, robberies and grand larcenies were all down – but burglaries, though an uncommon crime in the transit system – doubled from five reported between January and September of 2022 to 10 during the same period this year.
Meanwhile, arrests in transit continued to shoot up from 6,452 to 10,154 year-to-date – about a 57% leap, the data shows.
Fare evasion arrests, specifically, soared about 143% so far this year compared to last – from 1,455 to 3,540.
In the latest terrifying act of violence on the rails, Sabir Jones, 39, allegedly shoved a woman into a departing downtown E train at the Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station in a random attack last week – leaving her with life-threatening injuries.
Jones – who was nabbed in New Jersey but has not yet been transported to the Big Apple to be formally charged – has dozens of prior arrests in the Garden State and a history as an “emotionally disturbed person,” according to authorities and sources.
During a press briefing last week, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber called on the mental health system to properly evaluate the conditions of “these people who are having a disproportionate impact on the public space,” adding, “We feel for them, but we need for them to get in treatment and out of the public space.”
Mental health professionals “have to figure out how to get these people out of the public space and into treatment, so that they get in better condition for themselves. And more important for New Yorkers who are just trying to live their lives,” he said.