Spike in subway assaults fueled by attacks on elderly commuters: NYPD transit chief

Rebecca White and Colin Mixson, New York Daily News on Sep 5, 2026

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NEW YORK — Attacks on elderly straphangers are fueling a spike in felony assaults within the New York City subway system, NYPD Transit Chief Gulotta said Friday.

As the New York Police Department contends with a 9% 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 said at a news briefing at the NYPD’s Manhattan HQ. “When you put those three together, that’s almost 50% 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 to the 397 reported by that time last year. Elderly people were the victims in 17% of the attacks, officials said. Police made up another 21% of the victims.

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

The transit chief revealed the new data on attacks targeting elderly commuters just days after a 65-year-old woman, whose leg was broken in three places after a mentally ill stranger shoved her onto the tracks at a Bronx subway station in an unprovoked attack, blasted city leaders for failing to protect riders.

“The situation has got to stop,” an outraged Lydia Zuniga told The New York Daily News from her hospital bed last week. “The city isn’t doing anything regarding crazy people. They’re running the subways, and nobody’s doing anything about it.”

Zuniga was waiting for a Manhattan-bound No. 5 train at the elevated E. 180th St. station near Morris Park Ave. in West Farms at about 1:45 p.m. on Aug. 27 when her attacker stormed up to her, she said.

Other attacks targeting seniors include a 70-year-old woman who was hurled onto the tracks at the 57th St.-Seventh Ave. train station in Midtown on July 18. And on April 11, Anthony Griffin, 44, was shot dead by police for slashing three elderly victims with a machete and calling himself “Lucifer” at Grand Central Station.

Gulotta said that roughly two out of every three assaults in transit result in an arrest, and that most New Yorkers report feeling safe riding the subway despite the rise in violence.

“(To have) 71% of people feeling safe on the subway is an incredible number for us,” the transit chief said.

In Zuniga’s case and in the assault on the 70-year-old woman, their attackers didn’t last long on the streets.

Zaki Smith, 36, was captured just two days after the attack inside the 57th St. station and charged with attempted murder, felony assault and misdemeanor assault, cops said.

And one day after the attack on Zuniga, Juan Nieves, 29, made his way to a psychiatric clinic seeking help, where he confessed to the attack, according to law enforcement sources. He is charged with attempted murder, assault, and reckless endangerment as a hate crime, police said.