A 72-year old man was shoved to the subway tracks by a stranger in an unprovoked attack at Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center station early Wednesday — but was able to climb back onto the platform despite suffering a separated shoulder in the fall, police said.
The victim was standing on the uptown platform for the B, D, F and M trains when he was shoved from behind about 3:50 a.m., cops said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if anything was said by the attacker. The victim was able to climb back to safety, with medics then taking him to Mount Sinai West in stable condition.
The 40-year-old attacker, a man from Queens, was taken into custody at the scene and will be charged with assault and reckless endangerment, police said.
The disturbing incident comes amidst a sharp increase in both felony and misdemeanor assaults in the subway system.
Through Aug. 9, there were 406 felony assaults in the subway system, up 9% from the 371 for the same time last year. Misdemeanor assaults were also up, to 1,056 from 876, a spike of 21%.