Subway Shove Suspect Caught On Camera After Hunter College Push: Cops

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Police are still on the lookout for a person they suspect shoved a 74-year-old great-grandfather to the train tracks at an Upper East Side Station early Tuesday morning, officials said, and are offering a $3,500 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

"You hurt an elder...I hope the police catch up with him, that's all I have to say," the victim's granddaughter told ABC 7 Tuesday night.

🚨WANTED for ASSAULT:
On 9/12 at 12:15AM on the s/b 6 train platform of the 68 Street-Hunter College subway station, suspect shoved victim onto the tracks.

Reward up to $3500 for info leading to an arrest. Please call 1-800-577-TIPS or DM @NYPDTips. Calls are confidential. pic.twitter.com/ynfLm7Kkik
— NYPD 19th Precinct (@NYPD19Pct) September 13, 2023

The unprovoked shove happened just after midnight Tuesday morning as the great-grandfather, who works at a Fifth Avenue parking garage, according to the ABC 7 report, was waiting for a southbound 6 train inside the 68 Street-Hunter College subway station, police said Tuesday.

ABC 7 reported that the injured man has three children, five grandchildren and three great-grandkids.

“He’s approached, unprovoked, by a male who’s speaking to himself. He gets accused of staring at the male and he’s spontaneously just shoved onto the tracks," said NYPD Assistant Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, according to the New York Daily News.

An alert and heroic on-duty electrician contracted by the MTA ran to the man's aid and helped rescue him from the tracks, according to officials.

Police initially said the victim suffered only lacerations on a finger and complaints of generalized pain.

Once he was brought to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell in stable condition, Kenny said, according to the Daily News, his injuries were found to be more serious and include multiple rib, pelvic and spinal fractures.

Police also did not release any description of the suspect until late Tuesday evening, when they sent out surveillance images and video of the man they say is connected to the shove.

Officials described the man as having a medium complexion, about five foot nine inches tall, salt and pepper hair with a goatee, wearing a black polo shirt and brown pants and weighing about 200 pounds.

“From the video, he seems to be disheveled and possibly having some mental issues,” the Daily News reported Kenny as saying, who added that he could be possible linked to some surface-level assaults as well.

While subway shoves are rare — and occurring at a far lower rate than last year, reports ABC 7, the alarming crimes remain a top priority for the NYPD.