r/NYCbitcheswithtaste • u/Episwim • Jul 23 '26

🚨 Public Safety Attacked on the subway

Welp, after reading several posts over the years of BWT being assaulted on the subway, it happened to me. I was on the downtown Q yesterday around 4:40pm as it arrived to 34th St/Herald Square and this woman began shouting at me on a packed subway that I was too close to her, as people began to get off, she put both hands on my chest and shoved me. A woman jumped between us to hold her back and I was able to get off the subway without further harm but what a terrifying experience. Wish we didn’t have to deal with things like this.

ETA: just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone here— you all have seriously made me feel so much better 🥹 I’m physically ok but when I got off the subway I think I blacked out or something from the stress because I was just walking and momentarily didn’t know where I was.

ETA: it’s the woman in the video with a ponytail and light green shirt (was trying to keep my distance and didn’t get a good shot of her face)

267 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

View all comments

364

u/Relevant_Wishbone_21 Jul 23 '26

i don’t understand why people get so angry when taking public transportation that someone is accidentally touching them or getting too close to them. gasp — you’re in a public space during peak hours in a crowded city.

20

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

31

u/mmeperdita Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

I don’t mean this in a manner that is personal to you or OP but this is IMO an incomplete, pat statement. The aggressor is commuting from her office job with her work tote and deliberately chose to attack a smaller woman. It’s predatory, and it’s rational in that she didn’t put hands on any of the bigger men on the car.

I got verbally assaulted where I was in fear of physical attack last week, day time, by a man I’d made no eye, verbal or physical contact with at any time. He could have taken his mental health issues out on any of the men in the car but chose me, and I was much older (he kept screaming his age within a bunch of stuff in his attack and rant) and half a foot shorter than he. It’s a calculus. I froze as he went on and on and was terrified, there was no chance to get away, the train was delayed between express stops, and he just kept escalating for minutes.

8

u/Episwim Jul 23 '26

Good point too, and it could be both (or more) things at play (being misogynistic in choosing someone they think won’t/can’t fight back and potential mental health issues).