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Family of man pushed onto Brooklyn subway tracks slams Mayor Adams' safety plan

By FOX 5 NY STAFF
Updated  October 24, 2022 12:02pm EDT
Bushwick
FOX 5 NY

NYPD seeking Brooklyn subway shove suspect

Shocking surveillance footage shows a man shoving another subway rider off a Brooklyn platform onto the tracks below.

NEW YORK - The mother of a man who was pushed onto subway tracks in Brooklyn on Friday is demanding more from the city.  

Audrey Martin, the mother of shoving victim David Martin, says the new plan unveiled by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul won’t make the subways safer.

RELATED: Hochul, Adams pledge to fight subway crime with more cops, cameras

"We have a city that is under crisis," Martin said.

According to authorities, on October 21 at around 3 p.m. at the Wyckoff and Myrtle Avenue subway station in Bushwick, David Martin was checking subway times, when a man suddenly ran up and shoved him onto the tracks, breaking his collarbone.

"My son is completely traumatized," Martin said. "He can't move, he can't cash his check. He can't work."

RELATED: Exclusive: Subway attack victim credits Gwen Stefani for survival

A day after the attack, Audrey learned about Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams' new subway safety plan. The pair have promised more police officers, 1,200 more overtime shifts every day, and two, 25-bed inpatient units for the mentally ill.  

Hochul, Adams annonuce new NYC subway safety plans

New York officials have announced new action intended to bring a sense of safety back to the rails for subway riders.

"It's all grandstanding," Martin said. "Everyone wants to grandstand. Hochul says she has 50 beds for the homeless. Fifty beds for the people who are mentally ill. Fifty? Are you serious?"

She told FOX 5 she does not think a larger police presence on the subway is going to help.

"I think it is really, really wrong," she said. "I think they are scapegoating the police."

NYC subway violent crimes continue to increase

In yet another example of violent crime on the New York City subway, a man was pushed onto the subway tracks in Brooklyn on Friday, as New Yorkers call for Mayor Eric Adams to do more to make the city safe.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa l. Gibson says more cameras and a larger police presence are a start, but locking up people who are sick will not solve the problem.  

"And while we don't have a mandate to institutionalize anyone," Gibson said. "We need to get them into services, before they engage in these violent acts, before they shove someone, they stab someone. They have access to weapons, which is also concerning. Many of them are unsheltered, they don't have stable housing, They need to be on medication, They're undiagnosed and they need access to services."

Martin said the city has not reached out to her son, and the family is struggling financially and is now overwhelmed by David's medical bills. 

The suspect in Friday's attack is still on the loose.