14-year-old teenager arrested for beating teenager caught on video in New York City subway station

Police said one wanted in connection with a belly-boiling and racist slur attack on a 15-year-old was arrested and charged after the victim was pulled twice from a Manhattan subway train and mercilessly beaten by a trio of attackers.

The 14-year-old suspect was charged Wednesday with aggravated stalking, assault and threats, according to police. He is believed to have been part of a group that stalked the 15-year-old victim at 181st Street and the Fort Washington Avenue station around 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Police are still looking for two other suspects.

It is not clear what happened before people started recording the Washington Heights incident, and it was not known if the victim and attackers had communicated before.

After being forcibly removed from the A train, the victim was dragged down the platform by his sweatshirt before the attackers grouped on him and started beating him as he sat on a bench on the subway platform. Dozens of other young people incited them by writing down the whole ordeal.

One 20 second video posted in response to NYPD tweet shows a chaotic scene at the station where several people – at one point, three at once – pounce on the victim, who is almost invisible as he tries to defend himself on the bench.

Dozens of young people stand on the platform as he takes blow after blow, yelling “Oooh!” almost as if to encourage the attack, which the vast majority of viewers seem to be recording on their cell phones.

It’s not clear if he was already on the A train and tried to get back or tried to get on first, but the girl pulls him out, yelling “Go!” Clenching his sweatshirt in her fists, she pushes him down the platform from behind. His face mask slides down to his chin.

The sea of ​​obvious teenagers part, allowing the girl to drag the victim across the aisle as racist abuse pours from both sides. At one point, the boy tries to run and is quickly caught. She grabs the front of his sweatshirt by the neck and starts dragging him down the platform behind her, screaming the whole time. He tries to get back on the train. She climbs on top of him and starts hitting him before pulling him off the train again as racist slurs fly around them.

The boy is eventually taken to a bench where he is attacked by a girl and two other people.

A family member of the victim told NBC New York that the injured teenager was at home recovering from the attack.

The man who posted the video to Instagram, which has so far been viewed about 40,000 times, did so in an apparent attempt to highlight the depth of the problem and give the NYPD potential faces to strive for in the fight for justice.

“I can’t even explain how heartbroken, angry and disgusted I am watching this video. I don’t know what preceded this clip on that train, but it’s very difficult for me to come up with anything that justifies what is happening, ”the Instagram user wrote. “It is disappointing that we are still in this world. People don’t even want to get on trains at 3:00 pm when schools are off. disenfranchise and disenfranchise all these kids and anyone who looks like them and all they can do is lash out at each other with insults and violence while others stand around filming it and encouraging violence? “

The user called the behavior depicted in the video a “sad state of affairs” and asked, “Is this really how we live downtown in 2023? “.

Carmen de la Rosa, a New York City council member representing the area where the attack took place, condemned the attack and said “this is unacceptable behavior in a residential area.”

“We hope to see New Yorkers approach each other with kindness and grace. The scene depicted in the shared video is not the way to behave, especially in public areas, and we will not tolerate anti-blackness or hate in our uptown communities,” Democrat tweeted and promised to contact relevant agencies about next steps .

MTA seems to be one of them. On Tuesday, New York City Transit President Richard Davey strongly condemned the footage.

“This video is heartbreaking and disturbing, and our hearts go out to the young man who is apparently needlessly harassed,” Davey said in a statement. “No one should be subjected to this type of hateful harassment while they are traveling with New York City Transit, and the MTA is cooperating fully with the NYPD in investigating the incident.”

Police are looking for two more people who were beaten by the victim in the video.

Anyone with information on the suspects is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.