Police said this week that a 16-year-old schoolgirl was punched in the face by a deranged woman in another random attack on the city's besieged subway.
Just before 7 a.m. on January 7, the girl was on her way to school on the southbound platform of Manhattan's Union Square subway station when an assailant had her socks removed, the New York City Police Department said.
Although he was only 5 feet 5 inches tall, the diminutive assailant punched the teenage girl so hard that she was left with a bruise on her eye, police said.
Police said the beatings were random and unprovoked.
The girl was treated for her injuries at the scene.
The assailant fled the scene and was still at large as of Tuesday.
Surveillance video released this week by the NYPD shows the suspect toddling down a subway platform, carrying a large black suitcase.
Police are asking the public to provide information that will help find the suspect.
News of the unprovoked assault on the teenager follows weeks of high-profile random attacks on the city's subways, including the killing of a homeless woman who was set on fire and burned to death in December. This was a follow-up to the incident.
On December 1st and December 31st, two men were also pushed onto subway tracks in unprovoked attacks. In the latter, the 45-year-old victim incredibly survived as the No. 1 train crashed into the 18th Street station. Chelsea.
In response to violent crimes on the subways, Gov. Cathy Hochul announced plans to bring in more police officers at night.
Starting Monday, NYPD officers began patrolling all night trains along the A, G, J, and L lines from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Hours before Monday's surge began, a 39-year-old man was punched and slashed in the chest in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack on a D train, police said.
