New York subway workers ignored ‘bloody’ assault: lawsuit

Subway

For Kathianne Boniello

March 18, 2023 | 12:09 p.m

A Brooklyn man claims his front teeth were knocked loose by a bewildered stranger during a random beating 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 business on the northbound train as he entered the West 14th Street/6th Avenue station when he noticed a stranger “looking at him intently” and “said something “, according to court documents.

When the train doors opened, the man started to leave, but suddenly turned and punched Mahrer in the face while he was inside the train.

“It all happened in a millisecond. He punched me really hard,” Mahrer said. “He punched me. No warning.”

The altercation spilled onto the platform as the man continued to beat Mahrer, he alleged 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 one (straphanger) has her camera phone out and I yelled, ‘Will somebody help me?'” he said. “Nobody helped me.”

The train sat in the station with the doors open until Saturday night’s beating, which happened around 8:15 p.m., stopped and the unknown man fled, said Mahrer, who said he did not see no traffic workers during the assault.

He was left “dazed and disoriented on the platform … covered in blood,” until two good Samaritans helped him onto the street and called the 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 fractured, Mahrer said in court documents.

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

No arrests have been made in the assault, police said.

“I feel like the MTA should be a little more accountable,” 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 to comment on the litigation.