This is the shocking moment two brawling men tumble down an escalator at Grand Central Station in New York City.
The pair appeared were entangled as the brutal fight occurred on the upward-moving stairway after one refused to step beside for the other to get by.
Footage shot on a cellphone on the downward traveling escalator saw stunned commuters scrambling to jump out of the way as the pair fought one another.
Video captured a fight between two men on a New York City escalator in Grand Central Station before they tumbled down onto the concourse
Screams could be heard as shocked commuters attempted to move out the way as the men tumbled down
The incident occurred on Thursday at about 11am after ‘a 37-year-old male punched a male victim in the face after a verbal dispute’
Legs and arms could be seen flying in the air as the duo tumbled down, all the while the escalator continued to rise as people screamed in horror.
It wasn’t exactly clear what was going on until the person recording the beating was able to view the escalator head-on.
One man can then be heard wailing on the other as two bystanders, a man and woman, ran back down the stairs in an attempt to stop the brawl.
A 37-year-old Long Island man has been arrested and charged with assault, according to the NYPD.
The police said ‘a 37-year-old male punched a male victim in the face after a verbal dispute’.
It wasn’t exactly clear what was going on until the person recording the beating was able to view the escalator head-on.
A couple who were also on the stairs attempted to bring the assault to an end
The person who filmed the clip said tensions boiled over after one of the men would not move out of the way for the other on the escalator.
Reactions were mixed with some people panicking and looking to move out of the way as quickly as possible while others simply tried to get on with their day.
Subway crime in New York City appears to be at a 25 year high, according to data from the NYPD.
There have been nine killings on the subway in 2022.
Do you know this man? The NYPD is asking anyone who recognizes the suspect to call 800-577-TIPS
The latest scare came at the weekend when a deranged thug pushed a man in front of an oncoming train at random on Saturday morning, leaving Good Samaritans to rescue him with just seconds to spare.
Surveillance footage shows the terrifying incident at 149th Street in the Bronx on at 11.50am.
The pusher, wide-eyed and with unkempt hair, stalked the 26-year-old man for several seconds first, then ran behind him and pushed him in to the path of the oncoming train.
He then fled the station as other, shocked onlookers rushed to the victim’s aid. They were able to pull him to safety before the train rushed through the station. He was uninjured in the attack.
Now, the NYPD is asking for the public’s help in identifying the man who shoved him.
The thug in the camouflage pants watched his victim (above in blue) and lunged at him before pushing him onto the tracks
This is the moment the thug ran towards the victim and pushed him into the path of the train before fleeing the station
It is the latest incident in what appears to be an ever-worsening crime wave in New York City.
At least 11 people have been shoved onto the subway tracks in New York City this year.
In January, 40-year-old woman, Michelle Go, was killed after she was pushed in front of a train at the Times Square Station. Her assailant was sent to a psychiatric facility after prosecutors declined to challenge a mental evaluation that found him unfit to stand trial.
On Monday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams claimed that there is only a ‘perception’ that crime in the Big Apple is ‘out of control’.
Adams said that he and law enforcement are fighting the ‘actual crime’, with the average of ‘six crimes a day’ on the subway ‘not giving the impression that it is out of control’.
He admitted that there are ‘too many guns’ on the streets of New York, but added that the NYPD has done an ‘amazing job’ confiscating thousands of firearms.
The mayor, who was barely audible over the sound of sirens wailing in the background, added: ‘We are dealing with actual crimes those eight homicides and the perception of fear that people are feeling.
‘That’s the combination I must deal with, that perception and the actual crime. But we can’t get away with the fact that we have 3.5 million people using our subway system,’ he said.
‘We have to be honest about that and those average of six crimes a day is not giving the impression that it is out of control.’
New York Mayor Eric Adams has claimed that there is only a ‘perception’ that crime in the Big Apple is ‘out of control’ despite eight people being murdered on the subway system this year
Recent data shows subway murders have risen to their highest in 25 years, despite plummeting ridership. Between 1997 and 2020, there were never more than five murders a year on New York City subway trains.
That number rose to six in 2020, eight in 2021 and it’s already at eight with two-and-half months left of the year.
Felony crime on the subway is up by 42 percent, but ridership has almost halved.
In 2019, an average of 142million people rode the subway every month – around four million people a day. Now, the monthly rider average is 81million.
Officials are struggling to explain the uptick in crime.
Many have blamed the COVID-19 pandemic, when they say resources like homeless shelters and mental health outreach programs stopped.
Others say it’s down to relaxed bail policies in liberal cities like New York and San Francisco.
Jayjon Burnett, 15, was killed on Friday afternoon – just six days before his 16th birthday – during a chaotic dispute between two groups on a Far Rockaway A train in Queens, New York
Before the pandemic, New York State brought in sweeping bail reforms in an effort to reduce low-level offender prison populations.
It released many repeat offenders back into the community.
That was compounded in New York City by the election of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who told his staff to avoid imposing cash bail wherever they could.
Adams vowed to crackdown on subway crime with the introduction of a designated, train task force.
They have not yet had an effect on the worsening crime.
The mayor’s comments on Monday come just days after after Jayjon Burnett, 15, was shot dead on Friday afternoon during a dispute between two groups on a Far Rockaway A train in New York.
Keyondre Russell, 18, is being held without bail on murder charges in relation to the killing, but claims that he is the real victim – saying Burnett shot him first and he acted in self-defense.
The latest in the transit killings come after officials have repeatedly promised to flood subway platforms and care with more police officers, under Adams ‘Subway Safety Plan’.
Adams added: ‘Too many guns are on the street, there is no condolence or consolation if you’re shot on the subway or on the street.
‘We brought down homicides, brought down victims of shooters, we continue to do the job.
‘Our police department done an amazing job but everyone must play their role.
‘Judges must keep shooters in jail lawmakers make sure we don’t make laws that allow them to return to our streets – we have to prosecute these cases
‘There are too many gins on our streets, those that are on the streets are also on the subway systems, they are also in our schools.
‘They are everywhere we are as innocent New Yorkers, there are too many guns on our streets.’
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