Neighbors Shocked After Man, 65, Is Attacked On Lower East Side Subway Platform
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Neighbors of a 65-year-old Bronx man who was badly beaten on a subway platform are hoping someone recognizes the man who attacked him.
Police have released images of the person they are trying to track down, as CBS2's Erin Logan reported.
Police are in search for a man, believed to be in his 20, who allegedly knocked a the older man unconscious as he was getting off the train on the J Train platform at the Delancey Street-Essex Street stop on the Lower East Side.
The attack happened on a Sunday afternoon.
"He looks like he's crazy -- that's what he looks like," said Diosny Martines.
Martines said he heard about the attack from this neighborhood street vendor in the Bronx near the victim's apartment building. She said she saw the man the other day and had to look twice, and all he told her was, "I got beat up on the train."
"It was bad, really bad," the woman said in Spanish.
"He's got bruises on his neck and everything, and black eye, and stuff like that," Martines added.
The victim's neighbors say they were never told why he was beat up. Sources told CBS2 as the victim was getting off the train, he was pushed by the suspect, who was getting in the train.
The victim said something to him in Spanish -- a phrase essentially meaning, "Hold up!"
"I don't know why he got beat up for that," Martines said. "That's really bad."
Police said the victim was not just punched in the face. When he fell to the ground, he got in a fetal position to cover up -- but the man repeatedly punched him and kicked him until he lost consciousness.
The victim woke up as he was being treated for cuts to the back of his head.
Regular subway riders at the Delancey Street-Essex Street station were angry to hear about the attack.
"It just burns me up inside. It could be one of my relatives; my dad," said Anthony Arroyo of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "It's just not right for someone to go around doing that."
Diosny said this is exactly why he avoids busy trains -- to avoid anyone angry who may misconstrue what you say or how you look at them.