An MTA subway operator suffered a head injury after he was beaten to the ground in a wild, caught-on-video showdown on a Bronx subway platform, cops and sources familiar with the attack said Sunday.
The 58-year-old operator was taking a northbound No. 6 train out of service at the Parkchester station around 10:35 p.m. Friday when he went to roust a sleeping straphanger, cops said.
According to police, the sleeping man attacked the operator, repeatedly striking him in the face.
Video obtained by the Daily News — set to the rap track “Bang Bang” by Jadakiss — shows the straphanger spit at the operator as he leaves the subway car.
The footage then shows the operator burst out of the door with a wooden stick that MTA staff call a “shoe paddle” — a tool meant to un-jam a third-rail contact shoe without electrocuting the staffer.
The operator swings at the man several times, hitting him and chasing him to the center of the platform, the recording shows.
“You gonna spit at me?” the operator yells, as the man takes off his jacket and a small crowd, including a young boy, watch, the video shows.
The operator takes another swing, but the man ducks, punches the operator, then knocks him down, raining punches on his head before a bystander separates the two.
Medics took the operator to Jacobi Medical Center in stable condition. Photos from the hospital show him with a bandage on his head, a bruised, swollen eye and a bloody gash on his cheek.
The other man ran off and is being sought.
“Transit employees should always safely return home in the same condition as they came to work. Anything less is unacceptable,” said NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow.
MTA employees have in the past used shoe paddles to fight back when attacked in the subway system. Last June, a transit worker used one to defend himself during a battle with alleged serial train thief Justine Randall.
Cops have not made any arrests in Friday’s incident.
With Evan Simko-Bednarski