Exclusive: Woman Brutally Attacked While Trying To Film Couple Assaulting Passenger On Queens Subway Train
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A woman says she was attacked while trying to film a couple assaulting another passenger on a Queens subway train.
With bruising under her eye, a busted lip, and her arms scratched and bruised, the victim told CBS2's Dave Carlin in an exclusive interview about the violent attack she suffered on her ride home from Manhattan to Queens on a 7 train Monday afternoon.
"They were both punching me in the face," she said.
The victim is 26 years old and asks we only use her first name, Victoria.
She says it began when they roughed up another rider and she began to record the incident.
"I wanted to have their picture to give to the cops," she said.
Her video begins with the suspects at the far end of the train car. The man who was punched and had his phone smashed did not appear to know his attackers.
"Break that ****," the man can be heard saying. "Go buy a new one."
The duo then started walking, directing verbal threats at various people, saying "Who else got issues on here?" and "I dare somebody."
Then the woman saw Victoria, saying, "You got an issue? Why are you recording? Why are you recording? Delete it, delete it."
"She threw the first punch, but they both attacked me," Victoria said. "Everybody ran away."
"No one helped you?" Carlin asked.
"My phone went flying," Victoria said.
Victoria grabbed her phone, but the two strangers were not done yet.
"They both punched me in the face a few more times and when the doors opened, they ran out of the train," she said.
While recovering from her injuries in Astoria, she was avoiding the subway until just recently. She took a single trip that she said was difficult for her emotionally.
"A little nerve-wracking to be honest," Victoria said. "I had a lot of anxiety."
Other New Yorkers were frightened to hear about the attack.
"That's scary," said one Upper West Side woman.
"I don't think you should be attacked for that, clearly the situation was wrong," another woman said.
"It was the right thing to do, maybe. I don't know if it was worth it, but it was the right thing to do," Victoria said.
She says she took the video in the first place and is speaking up now because she wants them caught.
"They shouldn't be walking around," Victoria said.
The suspects were last seen running away from the Queensboro Plaza station.
