LaShanna Reese, daughter of woman brutally attacked by man with cane on subway platform, speaks out
NEW YORK - The family of a woman brutally attacked in the subway is outraged that the suspect wasn't arrested sooner.
Video from last week shows the disabled 60-year-old on the ground, being hit dozens of time with a cane.
Her daughter spoke to CBS New York's Lisa Rozner.
The video shows 60-year-old Laurell Reynolds in distress on the ground last Friday. Around 3:15 a.m., police said 43-year-old Norton Blake struck her multiple times with a cane on the southbound platform of the West 116th Street and Lenox Avenue subway station.
"She was going in the subway. She had to bring down her bags that she had on her first down the stairs. She walked back up the stairs to get her walker. When she went to get her walker, that's when she was attacked, and tripped on the steps," Reynolds' daughter LaShanna Reese said.
Reese said Reynolds was on her way from Harlem, where she visited family, back home to the Bronx to celebrate Reese's birthday.
"When I saw the video, it felt like I was about to die. I just couldn't believe my mom was there, nobody was helping her. Nobody even called the police while it was getting recorded," Reese said. "Her leg is broken and everything, and she has a whole bunch of lumps in her face. Her eye just went down a little bit."
Video of the incident was taken by an MTA employee.
"This station agent did absolutely the right thing. She collected evidence by videoing what was going on, immediately contacted the rail control center, where there is an NYPD officer stationed," MTA CEO Janno Lieber said.
Reynolds said she believes it's that employee's video that put pressure on police to arrest the suspect Wednesday morning. She claims initially officers let him go, even though the NYPD said the suspect fled after the incident.
"I was just thinking they didn't want to do paperwork, and that's the problem. But we're supposed to be a community, you're supposed to be out here protecting and serving," Reese said. "And whatever transpired, he had no right to beat my mom laying their lifeless and she couldn't move."
Reese said she wants justice, whether that's jail, or the suspect getting mental health treatment in a hospital setting.
Charges against Norton are pending.
Reynolds' family said she ill need rehab to be able to walk again.
