Station Agent Beaten While Trying To Stop Beating

NYCsubway.org

Perhaps this is why many station agents choose to stay in their booths when they witness an assault. Tareque Ahmed, a 35-year-old station agent working at the 36th Street R station in Queens, witnessed a couple fighting on the platform as he began his shift late Sunday night. According to AMNY, Ahmed saw the man hit the woman. He began taking photos and yelled to a co-worker to call for police. The assailant then turned his rage towards Ahmed.

Once he told his co-worker to contact authorities, Ahmed said the man "came by the gate and started punching me." The couple left the station before police arrived, and they are still searching for the alleged attacker. Ahmed was taken to Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, where he said, "I feel pain. My eye is red."

Co-worker Rushdi Huq said of Ahmed, "He saw something and said something. Imagine what's going to happen when the clerks are laid off and there's no one there to help." The MTA laid off 266 workers in May, and are expected to lay off at least 180 more in order to save $21 million. Many straphangers were worried that fewer station agents would mean more crime in subway stations. Straphanger Campaign's Gene Russianoff previously warned, "Station clerks or the eyes and ears of many subways. Riders are going to be scared at night at subway entrances when there are no human beings around."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in News on July 6, 2010 10:22 AM

Comments [rss]

LB

To the Station Agent that decided to get involved; Good for you that you got your ass kicked ! It's not in your job description to "Help" in that manner . The agent started off by doing the right thing by calling for help . Yelling at the attacker in a quiet , most likely deserted station , then snapping pictures of the incident was just stupid . Think your personal safety first , Then the person in need .

just saying

One commenter suggested yelling "fire!" which may not be such a bad idea now that I think about it. Most likely the fire dept. would show up a lot faster than the NYPD.

Rocknrope

So, for anyone who wonders in the future why station agents don't do jack when people are fighting, now you know why. It's because they're New Yorkers, they know not to get involved unless they want their own smack in the head.

Manitoba

If the MTA had been allowed to fire all of the clerks, this tragedy would have been averted, and this guy's eye would be okay.

Hopefully, he can take a 6-year fully-paid disability leave to recover.

S.D.

Wow, no MTA union bashing? What's the world coming to?

Hope he's OK...

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Where the hell are transit cops. Only near the turnstills waiting for fare beaters. Don't see them at the platforms where the robbies and fighting occurred. In fact you run upstairs and no officers around. Yet you see over 14 officers hanging around and talking at the corner of 14th st.

kissel

maybe this is too obvious for the MTA, but we know we don't need station agents, but perhaps instead of paying for them to sit around just in-case they may or may not do something, why not put that money toward transit cops to patrol the stations? People who could and by their job title should provide security at about the same cost?!

roe

ITA. A couple of cops or private security agents in the station are going to be much more of a deterrent, and much more of an immediate help, than a station agent sitting behind glass. They should put the money toward that.

Rocknrope

Yep, Blackwater PSC's on the F train, that's exactly what this city needs.

Petey

The woman would probably say that the agent started with her baby daddy. She wants to get beat, let her. Most of these domestic situations it isn't the first time, and they just continue to stay with him because they "love him"

The Clandestine Samurai

That bastard. I hope he's arrested.

JenChungsNewBra

" Ya know what, I don't have to answer to you, you ain't my bitch. Know what I sayin'? So shit, man, fuck it. You should keep your ho on a leash. Hey, bitches be runnin' wild, man."

billybob

sounds like the woman is just as much of a douche as the guy beating her.

ozik

I'm going to repost this and see if I can get by the censor:

I feel terrible for the agent, he did the right thing trying to help bad people. The man and woman were a couple, he probably hits her ten times a day and she takes it. It doesn't help to intervene in that sort of situation.

I think that one of the things a woman needs to shout if she needs help isn't "help" or "rap3", it's "I don't know this person and they are assaulting me!". That gives strangers reassurance that they aren't interfering in a violent family squabble where they aren't welcome.

Cannibal

thats a mouthfull when you are being assaulted. Screaming FIRE usually works, because people nearby usually dont like being on fire.

But I agree with what you are saying, I for one wouldnt have gotten involved in this situation other than calling the cops.

ozik

I'm not sure if I was serious about the exact phrasing I wrote down. "Fire", while it may make people look, doesn't give them clearance to interfere. Part of my point is that I want to know if I'm looking at partner violence or stranger on stranger violence - the former I don't care about.

Cannibal

ok yelling fire is probably better if you are in a house; my comment was sorta random I apologize... this story just reminds me that should carry bear mace at all times

Wza

Wrong station pic.

That's the 36th Street station in Brooklyn.

LB

No It's not . It's the correct station . 36Th. Street in Brooklyn is a Local/Express/ Terminal Station . 36Th. Street in Queens is a local station . You can tell the difference by the fact that in the pic there are no connecting platforms too the express track, 36Th. Street in Brooklyn has the tiled walling that separates the North and South side trains from each other . Queens 36Th. street all you see are columns, & and beams between the uptown , and Manhattan local tracks .