A male suspect was charged after an incident at a Brooklyn subway station Sunday in which a 20-year-old woman was targeted, resulting in several Good Samaritans stepping in to rescue her.
The suspect, 42-year-old Fredrick Marshall, allegedly began trying to argue with the woman, then grabbed her and locked her in a bear hug, at which point she screamed, the New York Post reported on Thursday.
Marshall was reportedly a stranger to the woman and followed her onto the J train platform at Norwood Avenue in Cypress Hills on Sunday morning. Tensions escalated when he allegedly began arguing with her.
Video footage shows the suspect, wearing white, as he held onto her and tried to move her down the platform. Several people watched in disbelief as she screamed and others followed the pair as they moved away from another train and near the tracks.
Someone is heard shouting “Let her go!” repeatedly until the suspect finally does release her. However, when she tries to run away, the suspect grabs her again and they fall to the ground. Several men then drag the suspect off of the woman and appear to kick him.
“Fuck him up!” one man is heard saying as the group holds him down. The distraught woman then gets to her feet and runs away from the scene.
As one of the men walks away, he says to the suspect, “Somebody try to tell you to something, chill the fuck out! Now you got it”:
Law enforcement said medical personnel treated the woman at the scene for shoulder pain and minor injuries, adding that Marshall was arrested and officers found a knife and blackjack on his person.
According to the Recoil website, a blackjack is a short, weighted, concealable weapon that can be used to bludgeon a person.
The Post reported, “He was charged with third-degree assault, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree attempted assault and second-degree harassment, according to a criminal complaint.”
“Marshall — who cops say has no prior arrests — was granted supervised release during his arraignment the next day, as the charges are not bail-eligible, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office,” the report added.
Social media users were quick to respond to the Post‘s story, specifically about the men who stepped in to rescue the victim. One user commented, “Justice served fast and fierce.”
In late 2024, crime prevention activist and New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa said his public safety organization known as the Guardian Angels would return to the city’s subways, the news coming after a horrific arson murder of a sleeping passenger, per Breitbart News.
“We’re going to have to increase our numbers, increase the training and increase our presence as we did back in 1979,” Sliwa explained.
Some subway riders have courageously stood against subway attackers. In January, an elderly woman fought back when a group of teenagers, all of them girls, targeted her on the subway in Brooklyn.
Following the altercation, she said, “Thank God they didn’t have no weapons. I thank God I didn’t have a heart attack and a stroke and die!”
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