CBS2 Exclusive: Woman Speaks After Being Groped, Shoved Onto Subway Tracks In Greenwich Village
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Washington Heights woman was recovering Friday afternoon after a disgusting and disturbing attack on the subway in Greenwich Village.
Bonnie Currie spoke with CBS2's Raegan Medgie exclusively Friday after she said a man groped her and then pushed her off a platform onto the tracks.
It happened on the uptown platform of the F and M train station at West 14th Street and Sixth Avenue around 4:20 a.m. Friday.
Currie, in her hospital bed Friday afternoon, said she was doing "OK" after the terrifying incident. Clarise Fearn, Currie's best friend, put her on speaker phone to recount what happened.
"Seconds after I had gotten, walked down and gotten off to the F subway platform – and I like hadn't even stopped moving; I was still walking with forward motion because I was going to the underpass – a dude came up from behind me," Currie said by phone.
Currie said the suspect then put his hands on her private parts, and she yelled at him to get away.
"He pushed me as hard as he could push me onto the subway tracks," Currie said. "Then I screamed for help, and luckily, there were two people that were there in that hour – in that early hour – which was so lucky, and they pulled me off of the tracks."
Police on Friday were trying to find the person, telling Currie the cameras inside the subway station were not working. Officers spotted at the subway station Friday were on high alert.
Late Friday night, police released surveillance photos of a man they're calling a "person of interest" in the case.
He's described as a black man in his 20s, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall, with a medium complexion, black hair, a goatee, and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a red bomber jacket with multi-color patches, black hooded sweatshirt, black denim pants and light colored shoes, carrying a blue backpack and white construction-type helmet.
Meanwhile, Currie's injuries were visible and noticeable, and she said she cannot help but replay the incident in her mind.
"Now it's kind of feeling kind of like otherworldly and like out of body, basically just kind of like running it over again and again in my head," she said. "Like, is there anything that I could have done differently, which I just don't think that there is. It could have been anyone."
But Currie is grateful for the two Good Samaritans who pulled her to safety.
"I put my arms up, and one man took one arm, and the other took the other, and they pulled me up out of the track," she said.
Medgie asked Currie if she wanted to say anything to the rescuers in case they were watching.
"Just thank you for literally saving my life," she said.
The assailant was wearing an orange vest, but police do not believe he was a transit worker, 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported.
Straphangers were concerned following the attack.
"Maybe they ought to put more police guys here, this station is always empty," one man said.
"Just given the number of incidents that are happening, it makes you think twice about standing close to the tracks," another man said.
"I've kind of changed my positioning in front of the train station, I used to be like edging to be in the front and now I'm like you know it's not worth my life," one woman said.
Currie was being treated at Northwell Health Lenox Hill Hospital late Friday. She said she broke her left wrist, tore a ligament in her left shoulder and suffered deep bruising to her left femur.
She was expected to go into surgery sometime Friday night.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or for Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website or texting 274637(CRIMES) then entering TIP577. All call are strictly confidential.
