Elderly riders bear brunt of rising New York City subway attacks

Attacks on elderly straphangers are fuelling a spike in felony assaults within the New York City subway system, according to New York Police Department’s transit chief Joseph Gulotta.

As the NYPD contends with a 9 per cent jump in felony assaults in the city transit system this year, the department’s transit chief said roughly half of all attacks on the rails are targeting a few select groups.

“What is driving them is assaults on police officers, assaults on MTA workers and assaults on the elderly,” Gulotta told a news briefing at the NYPD’s Manhattan headquarters on Friday. “When you put those three together, that’s almost 50 per cent of felony assaults.”

“That’s something we’re really geared up on. It’s something we take very seriously.”

Police have investigated 435 assaults in transit this year through the end of August, compared with the 397 reported by that time last year. Elderly people were the victims in 17 per cent of the attacks, officials said. Police made up another 21 per cent of the victims.

While assaults in the subways are up, random attacks are down by 8 per cent, from 69 last year to 63 this year, police said. Unprovoked felony assaults decreased by 4 per cent, from 71 last year to 68. Those arrested for assaults are mostly repeat offenders, police said.