Cops say they are looking for a pair of female fare-beaters who beat down an on-duty woman MTA employee at a Brooklyn subway station.
Marshalee Reid, 51, was assisting an elderly man who was having problems at a MetroCard vending machine, before she wound up confronting the two fare evaders, who punched and slashed her with keys around 1:15 p.m. last Saturday in the New Lots No. 3 train subway station in East New York, police and the Transport Workers Union said.
Reid opened the emergency-exit door so that the elderly man could pass through. She then noticed one woman hop the turnstile, and confronted her, telling her to come back through the open door and pay her fare. The second woman, though, then asked Reid if she could come in through the open door, too. Reid told her she had to pay the fare, according to TWU.
One of the women then pushed the MTA worker to the floor, where she was repeatedly punched and kicked and also hit multiple times with keys.
Following the attack, TWU officials are now calling for more police officers and MTA officers in subway stations.
“This here is just a senseless crime,” Robert Kelly, TWU Local 100 stations vice president, told ABC7. “This is merely a station agent doing their job, performing customer service, when she was attacked, unprovoked.”
EMS transported Reid to Brookdale Hospital where she was in stable condition, having suffered minor cuts. She also suffered a swollen hand that required X-rays, the TWU said.
Both suspects fled on foot after the incident and remain at large.
The two suspects are around 25 to 30 years old, police said. One was described as having short black hair, and wearing a black bikini-bra top, multicolored shorts and white shoes. The other had short orange hair and sported a pink bikini-bra top, light-blue jeans and black sandals, cops said.
Anyone with information on the suspect’s identity or whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
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