Police Release Pictures Of Person They Say Punched 2-Year-Old Repeatedly In The Face On NYC Subway
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are trying to identify an individual after a 2-year-old child was assaulted on the subway.
The incident happened around 3 p.m. Saturday on a northbound C train entering the 116th Street subway station.
Police say an unidentified individual struck a 2-year-old boy in the face multiple times, then ran off.
Surveillance photos show the individual leaving the station.
The child's mother told CBS2 the individual was panhandling and asked the man sitting next to them for money, and the mother asked the individual to stay six feet away.
The mother says the individual walked away, but then stepped on the mother's foot, turned around and mumbled something. That's when the mother says the individual started punching her 2-year-old child, who was asleep in his mother's arms, repeatedly.
"And I was just asking people, 'Can you all please get my baby! Please get him!' she explained. "And nobody tried to stop. They were just standing there."
Police arrived too late. The attacker ran off. The toddler was rushed to the hospital and released, but the trauma has set in.
The toddler was taken to the hospital and released. The child's mother says the doctor told her he would have seizures.
The 21-year-old mother of two asked CBS2 not to show her face. She's terrified the person who attacked her and punched her son will come after them again.
"I'm scared. I don't even like taking the train no more. I don't feel safe," she said through tears.
This attack follows the arrest of a homeless man who confessed to stabbing four people on the A train line.Police have since assigned 500 additional uniformed officers to patrol the subway system.
The mother said the officers' presence isn't being felt. "You see everything on the train station. It's so mind blowing," she said. "Like, where is the police?"
The MTA has requested the NYPD add 1,000 more uniformed police officers to patrol subways and buses.
Anyone who has information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477 or for Spanish, 1-888-577-4782. Tips can also be sent to the NYPDTips Twitter account or submitted online at NYPDCrimeStoppers.com.
