Woman pushed onto tracks at Times Square subway station

NEW YORK - EMS rushed a woman to Bellevue Hospital with head and neck injuries after a man threw her onto the subway tracks in an apparent robbery at the Times Square subway station on Friday afternoon, the NYPD said.

The woman was standing on the northbound R track platform. A man in his 40s, who police said was possibly homeless, grabbed her purse and pushed her onto the tracks as a train pulled into the station.

"The train operator managed to stop the train when he was three to four cars into the station," MTA acting CEO Janno Lieber said. 

Witnesses stopped the man from escaping until police officers arrived and took him into custody.

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"Nobody — no rider, no New Yorker should have to fear this kind of thing happening," Lieber said. 

He added that three people have been shoved onto subway tracks in the last week. He said he reached out to Gov. Kathy Hochul to ask for the budget to hire more MTA police.

"I am horrified that a woman was pushed onto the tracks," Hochul tweeted on Friday evening. "I'm working with @MTA and our City partners to make our transit system safer. No one should ride the train or walk the streets in fear."

MTA officials also want to see mental health professionals in the subway system and more NYPD officers.

With FOX 5 NY's Jessica Formoso.