A straphanger was punched in the face by an irate fellow passenger on the Manhattan-bound subway, but he managed to push the “little guy” to the ground before police intervened.
Alexander Rakitin, 42, was riding the N train to his financial job in Manhattan on Monday morning when he sat next to 34-year-old Timothy Barbee.
As the train pulled away, the car shook and Rakitin's knee hit Barbie's, causing the alleged assailant to catch fire.
“Apparently my knee touched his knee, and that triggered him,” Rakitin told the Post.
“He was just so aggressive. He's like, 'Hey, calm down, it's already 8:30 in the morning.' Like, who needs this? Just relax. ”
Footage taken by another straphanger shows the two staring at each other, with Barbie shouting, “It's over, stop staring at me,” and telling Rakitin to “chill” and “shut up” when she protests. He kept saying, “Tell me.” ”
Their exchange of words died down for a moment as they continued to stare at each other, then Barbie said, “I don't have time to go to jail today.”
And before the camera stopped, he punched Rakitin in the face, causing his glasses to fly off.
“Then I tackled him to the ground and managed to hug him,” Rakitin said. “And the craziest thing was, this is literally infuriating and I'm actually getting emotional as well, but the people on the train were trying to help him. It was the craziest thing ever.
“It was also notable that he broke away from such thug-like behavior. And he quickly became a bit of a B-ch. He's like, 'I can't breathe.' It was. Please, let me go. Please, let me go. I can't breathe. Someone please give me some water. I can't breathe. 'And the people began to give him water. It was so insane. ”
“People started helping [Barbee]” Rakitin added. “And they were like, 'Hey, let him go. Let him go.' They're like, 'Are you crazy?' For example, if I let him go, he'll get up and hit me again. Like, I don't want that.
Rakitin continued to hold Barbie down until the train entered the next station. When police arrived, they took the assailant away.
“They asked me if I wanted to press charges. I said, 'Yeah, why not?' This person can't just walk around beating people up,” Rakitin said.
Barbee, a Brooklyn resident with no prior arrest record, was charged with third-degree assault.
Rakitin suffered lacerations and scratches to his face, but refused medical attention.
He said the attack should not come as a surprise to anyone.
“Honestly, the way everyone sees this city is, it hasn't changed. I've already seen that,” he said.
“It's not like anything has changed. It's like we've reaffirmed that this is the way this city is.”
