Muslim Teen Tracks Down Suspect Who Allegedly Attacked Jewish Woman On Subway In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Muslim teenager's quick thinking led to the arrest of a man accused of attacking a Jewish woman in Brooklyn.
CBS2's Raegan Medgie spoke with Ahmed Khalifa, 17, who is now being called a hero. The arrest of suspect Rayvon Jones, 31, might never have happened without him.
"Something everyone should do," Khalifa said. "A random act of kindness, I guess."
Khalifa, who is Muslim, was on the Q Train headed home to the Midwood section of Brooklyn Thursday when he saw a 56-year-old Jewish woman getting attacked. Khalifa said the woman was being assaulted out of nowhere.
"He smacked her across the face and she's just like, she was bleeding, and her glasses were on the floor," Khalifa said. "She was really sad. She was saying, 'Why would he do this?'"
Once the train arrived at the Newkirk Avenue stop, Khalifa called to the conductor.
"I was telling him to 'stop, stop, call the ambulance, she's hurt,' and after that, he noticed what happened, so I started running, and then I saw a guy who was like, 'He went that way,'" Khalifa said.
Khalifa got off the train and followed the suspect for about 10 blocks on Foster Avenue. At one point, he lost the suspect, but someone then pulled up and helped the teen.
It was a Midwood neighbor offering help.
"He let me get in the car with him and then we started looking, and we found him," Khalifa said. "He got on the bus, the B68, so we just followed the B68 the whole way until finally the police, like, caught up with us."
When they did, suspect Jones was arrested.
"It just goes to show you the new generation is willing to stick up for things that are right. They do it without even thinking about it. It's almost in their blood," said Paul Decosto of Midwood. "That's great."
Khalifa said he does not think of himself as a hero.
"I don't know why everyone's, like, amazed," he said. "It's not that heroic."
Khalifa said the suspect was violent and said nasty things to him. Khalifa also said he would do it all again, because it is the right thing to do.
Police late Thursday were still trying to determine why the homeless suspect hit the woman in the first place. She is expected to recover from her injuries.