Crime & Safety
Midtown Subway Shove Suspect Arrested In New Jersey: Report
The shover, who police said is a man named Sabir Jones, also reportedly broke a man's jaw just before shoving a woman into a moving train.
MIDTOWN, NY — The man accused of shoving a woman into a Midtown train Wednesday has been arrested in New Jersey, according to a report.
Police identified the suspect in the shove — which left the victim, a 30-year-old woman, in critical condition on Wednesday — as Sabir Jones, 39.
Officers cuffed Jones on Thursday in Newark and taken to a local hospital, according to reporting from the New York Post.
Find out what's happening in Midtown-Hell's Kitchenfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Police officials were still waiting to confirm the arrest as of Thursday afternoon.
At around noon on Wednesday, the victim was standing on the southbound E train platform at the 5th Ave-53rd Street subway station when she was shoved by the suspect, slamming her into a moving train leaving the station, police said.
Find out what's happening in Midtown-Hell's Kitchenfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The impact left her on the train tracks with severe head trauma as fellow New Yorkers rushed to her aid, dialing 911 and pulling her off the tracks, officials said.
She was rushed to New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition, police said.
Also on Thursday, a man claimed that just minutes before the brutal and unprovoked shove, Jones slugged him in the face and broke his jaw, according to The New York Times.
The 26-year-old student and Queens resident was on his way to the library when he left an E train at the same station as the victim, the Times reported.
According to the student, he witnessed Jones screaming and was punched as he tried to quickly distance himself, fracturing his jaw, the Times wrote.
Only later when the student saw a photo police released of Jones did he realize it was the same man, according to the Times, and reported it to police.
NYPD officials could not readily confirm the Times' reporting.
The Times also highlighted alleged reports of Jones' past drug use, homelessness and interactions with outreach workers, sourced from a person with access to his social services records.
Patch reported that Jones was reported missing to the Newark Department of Public Safety on March 3.
Authorities at the time noted that Jones has been diagnosed with depression and psychosis and that he was known to sleep at Newark Penn Station.
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