Violent crime has created a grim new normal in the Big Apple's subway stations, home wallflowers.
The short-tempered strappers told the newspaper they waited for the train with their backs against the wall, fearing they would be the next victims to be thrown onto the tracks.
On two recent afternoons, the Post reported hundreds of people at East 86th Street, East 77th Street, East 68th Street, East 59th Street, East 51st Street, West 18th Street, 14th Street – Union Square Avenue and Wall Street stations. A passenger was seen hugging the wall.
“Ever since then, [attack last month]Mariana Castillo, a 25-year-old straphanger on West 18th Street, said she doesn't wear headphones and never goes near the edge of the platform, citing a near-death assault at the same station on Dec. 31. “I'm doing it,” he said. Lynskey was pushed to the tracks by Kamel Hawkins, who was unhinged.
“I definitely started going back as far as I could,” Hoboken resident Tanner Crochet said as he waited for the southbound 6 train on East 51st Street, citing the same incident.
“[Lynskey] “I probably thought it wouldn't happen to me, because everyone else thought that,” said Crochet, 23. He also makes sure to stand nearby when he sees a police officer.
MTA board member Lisa Dagrian is also taking precautions.
“If I don't have a lot of space…I either walk right up to the wall and hug it, or I stay where I am,” she told the Post. “And maybe that means you're on the train and you're not where you want to be, but if there's a lot of other people in line, you might not want to risk walking past them.”
Sheila Rogers, 62, also avoids the platform entrance. “I'm scared that someone will get angry and come down the street and shove the first person they see,” she said at the West 18th Street subway station.
“Right now I'm staying as far back as I can,” said Penny James, 59, of Roosevelt Island. His spine was glued to the blue barricade inside 59th Street Station while he waited for the southbound 6th train.
This alarming trend became a hot topic on social media this week.
“New Yorkers wait against the platform wall for their train. This is what it means to live in fear,” reads the caption for an image of nine straphangers hanging from the wall of the East 86th Street 6 station. I am. The photo, posted by Asian Wave Alliance chairman Iatin Chew on X on Wednesday, has garnered an astonishing 3.7 million views.
Another image posted on Instagram shows at least eight strap hangers secured to a wall at the East 51st Street 6 station and reads, “Following recent shoving and altercations on the subway. Is everyone really standing now?'', the caption reads.
Last year, there were 10 homicides on the subway, the highest in 25 years, and 579 felony assaults, a number that will increase by 2023, according to data from the New York City Department of Transportation. Slightly higher.
