N.Y. Subway Worker Pepper-sprayed in Ongoing Attacks on Transit Workers

New York, NY (WorkersCompensation.com) - On April 22, a worker cleaning a Metropolitan Transit Authority subway was attacked with pepper spray, officials said this week.

The worker was cleaning a train at its northern terminal in the Bronx when she encountered a passenger sleeping on the out-of-service car, transit sources told the New York Daily News. While law enforcement officials said it was not immediately clear what happened after the cleaner found the passenger, it is clear that the passenger attacked the transit worker with pepper spray to the face. Surveillance video from the platform shows the cleaner leaving the car in pain, and the attacker leaving the car shortly after her, and then leaving the station.

Officials said the cleaner was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.

“Now we have a car cleaner who asks someone to move at the end of the line so a train can be swept and made nicer for riders — and she gets pepper-sprayed? That’s beyond ridiculous,” NYC Transit President Rich Davey said in a statement. “We’ve got video of the perpetrator; the NYPD will lock that criminal up, and prosecutors should be clear in delivering justice that targeting transit workers is unacceptable and results in consequences.”

Transit workers in New York and in other cities have experienced increased attacks while on the job. In New York, a subway conductor, Alton Scott, was attacked in February while he was on duty in Brooklyn.

According to the Urban Institute, violent assaults on transit worker have tripled since 2008, with a major surge in attacks coming post-pandemic.

Using data from the National Transit Database, the Urban Institute found that major assaults (defined as an event resulting in a fatality or injury requiring medical transport) rose from 168 events nationwide per year in 2008 to 492 events in 2022. Researchers said given the reporting threshold for inclusion into the dataset, the reported incidents are likely an undercount of the actual number of incidents.

“New Jersey Transit, for example, reported three major assault events in 2021, but reports from other sources have cited the agency with more than 130 assault events for the same year,” the report said. “Assaults, both those that do and do not meet the FTA’s major threshold, include stabbing, spitting, hitting and kicking, and unwelcome sexual misconduct. Operators have also reported being robbed, having things thrown at them, being doused with urine and hot beverages, being threatened at gunpoint and shot at.”

The research found that in 2008, only 21 agencies across the country reported any major assault events, but that by 2022, 49 agencies reported similar events. Additionally, the frequency of the events had increased. In 2008, the MTA reported one event every 3 days, compared to one event every 1.4 days in 2022. And the rate of assaults per million riders increased as well. In 2008, the highest number of major assaults was reported at the Metropolitan Saint Louis Transit Agency (1 per 9 million riders) followed by high rates at the MTA (1 per 28 million riders). By 2022, the rates were highest in Albuquerque’s ABQ Ride (1 per 1.5 million riders) and the Chicago Transit Authority (1 per 3.2 million riders).

In New York, the Transport Workers Union Local 100, representing more than 40,000 subway and bus workers, has called for increased police presence on the subway and for other security measures to be put in place to protect transit workers. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a plan to deploy more mental health teams, and members of the National Guard, to the subway in response to calls for more worker protections.

In March, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has filed charges against two men for violent attacks on MTA employees. Rashon Eagle, 43, and Abdellahi Mohammed, 25, were indicted for assaults on transit workers in February, prosecutors said.

“MTA workers and passengers should not have to fear for their safety when on our buses and subways, and those who jeopardize their safety will be held accountable,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement at the time.

Eagle was accused of threatening to stab a bus driver around 12:05 p.m. on Feb. 10, as well as taking a swing at the driver as the two wrestled on the bus floor. During the fight, Eagle allegedly pulled out a pocketknife and tried to stab the driver.

On February 15, Mohammed allegedly punched an MTA worker in the face. The incident happened on the platform of the southbound Nos. 4 and 5 lines in the Wall Street subway station around 6 a.m., police said. Mohammed is accused of attack when she saw him lying under a bench. The attack broke her eye socket, court records indicate.

Both of the men pled not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Officials said the increase in violence is not only affecting existing employees, but is affecting the transit agencies’ ability to recruit workers. A survey by the American Public Transportation Association found that more than nine in 10 public transit agencies reported difficulties in hiring new employees, particularly bus drivers.

The February 2022 APTA survey of 117 transit agencies found that 71 percent reported having to either cut service or delay service increases because of increases in worker shortfalls.

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