New York subway workers ignored ‘bloody’ attack: lawsuit

 

A Brooklyn man claims a confused stranger loosened his front teeth during a random scuffle on a Village F-Bahn platform – and transit workers did nothing to intervene, according to a lawsuit.

Bret Mahrer, 29, was minding his business on the northbound train as he pulled into the West 14th Street/6th Avenue station when he noticed a stranger “looking intently at him” and “mouthing something,” according to court records.

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

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

The altercation spread to the platform as the man continued to beat Mahrer, he alleges in a negligence lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against the Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

“I felt dizzy, I remember looking to the side and a [straphanger] pulled out her camera phone and I yelled, ‘Will someone help me?'” he said. “No one helped me”

The train stood at the station with the doors open until the beatings, which took place around 8.15pm on Saturday night, continued and the unsub fled, claims Mahrer, who said he saw no transit workers during the attack.

He remained “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 his lip stitched at Lenox Health Greenwich Village Hospital. He later learned his teeth were broken, Mahrer said in court filings.

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, which is seeking unspecified damages.

Police said no arrests were made in the attack.

“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 take some responsibility for keeping people safe,” his attorney Kenneth F. McCallion said.

The MTA declined to comment on the litigation.