NYC subway workers ignored ‘bloody’ attack: lawsuit

Metro

From Kathianne Boniello

March 18, 2023 | 12:09 p.m

A Brooklyn man claims an unknown stranger knocked out his front teeth during an accidental bump on an F train platform in the Village — and transit workers did nothing to intervene, according to a lawsuit.

Bret Mahrer, 29, was minding his own business on the northbound train as it entered the West 14th Street/6th Avenue station when he noticed a stranger “staring at him” and “mouthing something,” according to court records documents

When the train doors opened, the man started to walk away but suddenly turned and punched Mahrer in the face as he stood inside the train.

“Everything happened in a millisecond. He just punched me so hard,” Mahrer said. “He punched me. No warning.”

The argument spilled onto the platform when the man continued to beat Mahrer, he claimed in a Manhattan Supreme Court negligence lawsuit against the Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

“I felt dizzy, I remember looking to the side and (straphanger) has his camera phone out and I was yelling, ‘Will somebody help me?'” he said. “No one helped me.”

The train sat in the station with the doors open until the Saturday night beating, which happened around 8:15 p.m., stopped and the stranger fled, claims Mahrer, who said he did not see any transit workers during the attack.

He was left “confused and confused on the platform … covered in blood”, until two Good Samaritans helped him up to the street and called police. He was treated for a concussion and had his lip stitched up at Lenox Health Greenwich Village Hospital, and later learned his teeth were broken, Mahrer said in court papers.

There were no cameras on the platform where he was attacked, “although there were cameras on other platforms and throughout the 14th Street Station,” Mahrer said in the lawsuit that seeks unspecified damages.

There were no arrests in the attack, police said.

“I feel like the MTA, they should be a little more responsible,” Mahrer said.

“Through his lawsuit, Bret is trying to force the MTA and NYC Transit to accept some responsibility for people’s safety,” said his attorney, Kenneth F. McCallion.

The MTA declined comment on the lawsuit.