Columbia grad student hospitalized after apparent attack, Inwood family seeks answers
NEW YORK -- An Inwood family is desperate for answers after they say their loved one was attacked and wound up in critical condition.
Detectives have some clues to pinpoint who did it and where but need help.
Photos show 29-year-old Jay Reist inside Dream Baby Bar on Avenue B near East 10th Street. His mom and sister believe the photo is one of the last taken Thursday night before the Columbia grad student was struck in the back of the head and wound up in critical condition at the hospital.
"We have him on camera before the attack at Avenue B and 15th Street ... and leaving the bar, so we know he wasn't attacked on Avenue B," said Lisa Reist, the victim's sister.
But the family tells CBS2's Lisa Rozner the native New Yorker eventually he got on the L train and exited at 15th Street and Eighth Avenue. He called an Uber, and en route to his Inwood home, the driver called 911, saying Reist was having a seizure.
"He was a covered in dirt. His hat and his clothes," Lisa Reist said.
"And under his nails. But it's that grimy kind of street dirt, so it's more consistent with a filthy subway or subway station," said Louise Reist, the victim's mother. "The doctors know with certainty that he was hit on the top right back of his head with a very heavy object."
Detectives are canvassing for video. The family says police believe he was attacked at some point in the subway system. They hope people who may have seen him that night comes forward.
"If there is a single individual out there who might do this, I don't want this to happen to anybody else," Louise Reist said.
"He's gay and genderqueer, so we don't know if it was related to that," Lisa Reist said. "He dances. He acts. He just has so much talent. He's a really supportive sibling, like, we're really close."'
On GoFundMe, the community has come together to help with medical bills.
Reist is breathing with the aid of a ventilator and has not opened his eyes.
Reist is getting his Masters in acting from Columbia. The family says they've already been told that even with a fast recovery, he will not be able to return to school in the fall.