EXCLUSIVE: NEW YORK — A 65-year-old New York woman says the same man who police suspect of shoving a 30-year-old woman into a moving subway car last week on swanky Fifth Avenue pummeled her twice from behind in July at another high profile train station – but the incident barely prompted an investigation until this latest victim was fighting for her life.
“If they had taken this as a felony and someone looked at the videotape, maybe this woman wouldn’t have had her head smashed in,” the July victim told Fox News Digital. “They would’ve seen that he’s out of control.”
She asked not to be identified due to concerns about her safety.
Sabir Jones, 39, is suspected of pushing a woman into the side of a departing train during the busy lunch hour Wednesday at 53rd Street and 5th Avenue. The station is in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, bustling with commuters who’ve returned to the office, well-heeled shoppers, and tourists from five-star hotels nearby. The victim hit her head on the side of the train then fell off the platform onto the tracks behind it. Bystanders pulled her to safety and called 911 as Jones allegedly left on foot.
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A 65-year-old woman says she was sore for hours after a man attacked her from behind without provocation at Grand Central Station, where she took this picture. (Provided by the victim)
Moments before the shove, Jones allegedly punched another man in the face, breaking his jaw, according to the New York Times, which reportedly spoke with that victim, who asked not to be identified. A police spokesperson declined to comment on that report.
The victim of the July 12 attack told Fox News Digital she does not feel that authorities took her violent assault at Grand Central Station seriously – and if they had, the suspect may not have been able to nearly kill the second victim. The incident report lists it as a misdemeanor harassment case, she said, not an assault.
“I don’t want to play this game. I’d like to be able to retire alive.”
She wants to know why he wasn’t investigated under New York’s “Granny’s Law,” which makes it a felony to attack someone 65 or older if the suspect is at least 10 years younger than the victim. A conviction under that law carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence.
However, after she saw Jones’ picture on the news and was able to identify him as her attacker, he is now being charged with assault, she said.
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“This is a double-edged sword here. If you’re going to change the laws, and you’re going to make it so people that are mentally ill and attacking people cannot be forced to take their medicine – and then you’re not locking them up,” she said.
“It’s not safe because the laws are too lenient.”
She called it a “sick” system that she wants no part of. And it’s relatively new, she said, noting she’s been taking the subway to work since the 1970s and has only recently become scared of random stranger attacks.
Now, every time she has to go into the subway, her “heart starts racing,” she said.
Sabir Jones is pictured leaving the 5th Avenue subway station after allegedly shoving a woman into a moving train last week. (NYPD)
“I don’t consider myself a pawn in their game,” she said. “I don’t want to play this game. I’d like to be able to retire alive. I don’t want to see pregnant women knocked down the stairs.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it could not comment on any of the charges against Jones until he is extradited from New Jersey. The timing on extradition was not immediately clear.
“When ambitious young people who are just trying to live their lives are subject to random attacks, we can’t put up with it.”
Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan is shown. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
The July victim was on her way to work around 8 a.m. when someone hit her from behind, she said. She ignored it – didn’t even look back – and kept walking toward her train platform. While descending the final set of stairs, she said, he hit her again – this time a powerful chop with both hands.
“As I was halfway down the stairs, I got smacked in the back of the neck and my shoulder as hard as this guy could hit me, and we’re lucky I didn’t fall down the stairs. At that point, I screamed.”
Shocked onlookers watched as her alleged attacker, who she said she now recognizes as Jones from video police released during a manhunt for him last week, crouched down “like a gargoyle” and started screaming back.
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The attacks come as the city is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and a spike in violent crime – and as leaders hope commuters will return to the office, and the subway system, to bring things back to normal. The 65-year-old said she believes that was why authorities downplayed the severity of her case.
“All I knew was I’m not going to get in an argument with this man that was crouching down like a gargoyle.”
The incident report recorded the attack as a “slap” and said there were no reported injuries. The victim told Fox News Digital she declined medical treatment due to fears that if she went to the hospital, she could be exposed to the coronavirus.
Last week, after his arrest in connection with the Fifth Avenue subway shove, authorities revealed Jones has a criminal history that includes sex crimes, drug possession and throwing a cup of urine at a police officer. He is a known “emotionally disturbed person.”
A No. 6 line train enters the subway station at Grand Central in New York City on June 14, 2021. (Nina Westervelt/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Over the last two years, 37 people have been shoved onto the subway tracks, according to FOX 5 New York – including the fatal 2020 shove of 40-year-old Michelle Go at the Times Square subway station about a dozen blocks away.
The suspect in that case was later deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.
“These decarcaration advocates forget the prime reason for incarceration,” said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector. “Even if the person is never ‘rehabilitated,’ at least if they’re locked up they’re not free to hurt innocents.”
