Subway operator helps shooting victim in Queens station: Exclusive

QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) – An MTA train operator sprung into action after a man was shot and robbed inside a Queens subway station on Sunday.

In cellphone video obtained by PIX11 News, the subway rider is bleeding on the platform after being shot in his leg. The operator had just pulled his train into the Rockaway Park - Beach 116th Street station when he noticed the man.

“I walked up to him and realized he was injured, he had blood all over his face,” the operator told PIX11 News.

That’s when he sprung into action.

“I just tried to save him. The thing about this job, you’re always going to get something like this and I’m always prepared just in case this happens,” he said.

The victim told PIX11 he had gotten lost on the train Sunday night when a man approached him and asked for money. When he pulled out his wallet, he said the suspect put a gun to his head. He said he was pistol-whipped, robbed, and shot.

“The train is not safe. It’s really not safe; every day is the same thing,” the MTA train operator said.

In a span of eight hours from Sunday to early Monday morning, there were three separate violent incidents that took place in the subway system.

In addition to the suspect in the Queens subway shooting, police are looking for a man who stabbed a 15-year-old boy in a random attack on a Brooklyn subway train, according to the NYPD. On Monday morning, a 27-year-old woman was also attacked on an A train.

Despite the spate of crimes, the MTA said overall crime in the subway system is down about 6% as a result of stepped-up security measures, including more officers. Still, some riders told PIX11 News they feel more needs to be done to ensure safety.