Traffic & Transit
Bandit Who Yanked Subway Brake Arrested, Cops Say
Police have accused a Clinton Hill man of stopping one subway train and are investigating whether he's responsible for other incidents.
NEW YORK — Police have arrested a Brooklyn man who they say brought a subway train to a grinding halt earlier this week. Isaiah Thompson of Clinton Hill was collared early Friday morning and accused of pulling the emergency brake on an uptown 2 train during the Tuesday evening rush hour, the NYPD said.
The arrest came less than two days after MTA officials said they were on the hunt for at least one miscreant who has been intentionally stopping trains around the city. The NYPD released surveillance video a suspected brake bandit on Thursday.
In addition to the brake-pulling incident, police say Thompson, 23, exposed himself to other straphangers on a platform at the 14th Street B train stop as he rode on the outside of a northbound train last Thursday.
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He faces charges of reckless endangerment and criminal trespass in connection with both incidents and a public lewdness charge stemming from the latter, the NYPD said.
It's uncertain whether other commute saboteurs are still at large. Police are trying to determine whether Thompson is responsible for other brake-pulling episodes and whether other people may have caused them, an NYPD spokesman said, adding that no other suspects have yet been identified.
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In a statement, New York City Transit President Andy Byford said his agency would do everything it could to help cops with their investigation. He repeated his call for a law allowing "recidivists" who target straphangers or subway workers to be banned from the system.
"Let this be a reminder that anyone who intentionally disrupts the subway, endangering our employees and customers, will be sought by the police and caught," Byford said. "If this person is indeed found to be responsible for breaking into trains and pulling emergency brakes dozens of times he should face a lengthy prison term and the strictest possible penalties."
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the last name of the person accused of pulling the subway brake. It is Thompson, not Thomas.
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