Woman Pushed Onto Bronx Subway Tracks: 'I Thought I Was Going To Die In That Moment'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police have released new video of a suspect they say shoved a woman onto the subway tracks in the Crotona Park East section of the Bronx.
She survived but is shaken and still recovering. CBS2's Natalie Duddridge spoke to her on Wednesday afternoon.
Surveillance video shows the suspect -- a woman in yellow pants -- coming down the subway stairs. Police said she attacked 54-year-old Rosa Elizabeth Galeas-Florencio, shoving her onto the tracks.
"I thought I was going to die in that moment," she said through a translator.
Galeas-Florencio said she was walking on the 2 and 5 platform at the 174th Street station on Tuesday at around 8 a.m. when a woman who said nothing to her randomly pushed her.
"She came at me with her body. I wasn't near the train track. I was about three meters away and she made me trip, but I didn't fall," Galeas-Florencio said. "She came at me again and this time I went down."
Panicked and down on the tracks, Galeas-Florencio called out for help.
"I was desperate when I saw the train was coming. There was a guy there. I think he was in shock, so I screamed, 'Help me! Help me!'" she said. "That's when he quickly came toward me and took me out."
The suspect took off while the good Samaritan pulled her onto the platform. Galeas-Florencio was then taken to St. Barnabas Hospital. She showed CBS2 some of the bruising to her body.
Duddridge reached out to the transit workers union, which said, "Nobody feels safe in the subway these days." The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said these random attacks are happening way too often.
New York City Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg said in a statement, "While we appreciate the partnership of the NYPD and our own police, these kinds of unprovoked attacks tend to have mental illness as the root cause. The city simply has to do more -- and quickly."
"People do things when there's no security around," one rider said.
"I just stand behind one of these things," another said, referring to poles.
There has been a string of unprovoked transit attacks in recent weeks. Police are now offering a $2,500 reward for tips in this latest one.
"The public demands and deserve an arrest in this case to put them at ease," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.
As for Galeas-Florencio, she said this is the second time she has been attacked on the subway, adding she worries about her kids' safety and getting on a train again.
