A 26-year-old woman tried to surreptitiously film an assault on the New York City subway system but ended up becoming a victim herself as a result of her actions.
The punch-up happened on Monday in the middle of the day, just after 1pm in Long Island City, Queens when a straphanger in a red t-shirt could be seen assaulting another passenger.
The man could be seen getting into an argument with a 20-year-old male rider in which he was punched leaving him with a swollen left eye and cuts on his face.
Police in New York City are on the lookout for a couple who assaulted a man and then a woman
It was at this point the woman, called Victoria, who was sitting at the other end of the train car took out her cellphone and began recording on the southbound 7 train.
‘He was just being polite, nothing rude about him,’ she said of the man who was attacked to the Daily News. ‘He was harmless.’
The man took out his phone to make a call whereupon the assailant accused him of calling the police. He punched him and knocked the phone to the floor.
The man began moving up the train car threatening shocked passengers while yelling about the phone.
‘F*** that s***,’ he yelled. ‘Go buy a new one, n****.’
A man could be seen assaulting another subway rider, 20, around 1pm on Monday in Queens
After the initial attack, shocked subway riders were verbally abused by the man who swore
‘Who else got issues on here? Who else got issues on here?’ he yelled while swearing.
But the man behind the initial attack was accompanied by a woman in a black and white striped outfit who also dared riders to challenge them.
‘I dare somebody,’ the accomplice said before suddenly noticing the woman covertly filming.
‘You got an issue, why are you recording? Why you recording?’ she shouted. ‘Delete it! delete it!’ she demands.
The video then suddenly shakes and abruptly cuts off.
The first victim, 20, seen in the striped shirt, right can be seen with blood on his hands with the suspect following close behind
The man was quickly followed his female accomplice as they walked down the subway car threatening other straphangers
‘I really just wanted their faces on camera,’ Victoria said. ‘It’s not like I had the phone out up in the air… it was barely pointing at them. I was trying to be discrete.’
The pair then suddenly attacked her.
‘She punched me, then the man turned and they both started hitting me,’ she said.
‘You get punched in the face that many times, you just don’t really know what’s going on around you, I just couldn’t believe it was happening,’ she said.
‘I have a black eye, a swollen lip, and I had a lot of neck pain for the days afterwards,’ Victoria told the News. ‘My face was pretty swollen, and I had some scratches on my arms, and bruises on my arms and legs.’
The two suspects got off the train at Queensboro Plaza.
The woman, in a black and white dress, suddenly spotted the woman, Victoria, 26, filming
The footage Victoria captured was posted on Twitter this week by her brother, identified as Peter.
‘Couple attacked 2 New Yorkers 7/27/20. One was my 26 year old sister who was badly beaten and bruised. Please spread the word and bring them to justice.’
Detective Sophia Mason, an NYPD spokesperson, said police are investigating the attacks but that so far, no one has been arrested.
‘I would walk my friends home at night, I’m not the one who’s scared. But now I’m the one who is scared, and that’s weird for me.’ the woman who filmed the footage told the News on Saturday.
Nevertheless, Victoria says she would still film people if something similar happened again.
‘I’d probably be smarter about it next time, maybe not leave it running too long, but I think I would because it’s just the right thing to do,’ she said.