Turnstile Hopper Assaults Transit Worker In Midtown: Police

MIDTOWN, NY – A 52-year-old woman was hospitalized after she was assaulted by a man who jumped a subway turnstile at the Lexington Avenue-53rd Street station in Midtown East at approximately 6:15 a.m. on Monday morning, a, a police spokesperson told Patch.

The woman, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) employee, was shoved and punched in the face, police said, falling to the floor and hitting her head.

She was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition, according to police.

A spokesperson for the MTA confirmed that the employee is a customer service agent at the station.

The incident, which police said occurred on the mezzanine level of the E/M station at 53rd Street, comes amidst increased enforcement of fare evasion – turnstile hopping – in the subway system and, more recently, on the city's buses.

No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing.

Crackdown Comes With A Cost

Fare evasion may have cost the MTA as much as $690 million in 2022, and the bill for 2023 could exceed $700 million, according to a recent report.

But the recent crackdown, while aimed at reducing lost revenue, has also raised concerns about the increased dangers transit workers face as confrontations with fare evaders become more frequent, concerns compounded by the on the job hazards the city's transit workers already experience.

According to a study published in the Journal of Urban Health in August, between 2020 and 2023 approximately 89 percent of New York City's transit workers reported some form of harassment or assault while on the job.

Nearly half – 48.6 percent – said they’d been physically assaulted at work.

[UPDATE: Researchers from New York University have retracted the study referenced above, stating that it was "compromised." More information is available here.]

The study follows a report from the Urban Institute, which found that assaults on transit workers resulting in fatalities or hospitalizations nationwide tripled between 2008 and 2022.

Asked for comment regarding the danger the MTA's crackdown on fare evasion across the system poses to transit workers, a spokesperson referred Patch to remarks made by MTA CEO Janno Lieber at a press conference on Sunday.

“...I have to remind New Yorkers that because of the work that we've all been doing under this team's leadership, crime is down in the subway,” Lieber said.

“Down versus 2023 and down 10 percent versus pre-pandemic…we will continue to fight back to make sure that New Yorkers can use the transit system and feel safe as they should.”

The subject of the press conference?

A violent confrontation in Brooklyn between police and a suspected fare evader. The suspect, a police officer, and two bystanders were reportedly shot after officers opened fire on a subway platform in Brownsville on Sunday afternoon. One of the bystanders was struck in the head and was reportedly listed in critical condition.

The suspected fare evader was armed with a knife, according to authorities.

Nearly 4,000 New Yorkers have been arrested for fare evasion so far this year, according to NYPD data.