A woman who fought off a stranger caught on video stalking her from a subway car to her Queens workplace is now so terrified she can’t sleep at night.
The 48-year-old federal worker described a fierce struggle with her assailant inside the federal building where she works in Jamaica.
“He started punching me, hitting me,” she said. “I hit him back. I broke my nails. I had black-and-blue on my arms.”
On Friday, cops released startling surveillance footage of the victim being chased down the street by her attacker and asked the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down.
The woman had just boarded a Queens-bound J train about 6:15 a.m. March 19 at her local Cypress Hills stop when the creep insisted on sitting beside her, she told the Daily News. “Hey, you cute,” he told her, according to cops.
“What was strange to me was the whole train was empty,” aid the victim, who asked that her name not be used. “There were only four people including him … Why would he want to sit next to me when there’s seats all around?”
“The moment he sat there he started staring at me,” she added. “I could feel him breathing on me. So I got up and went to the next car and when I looked back he was right behind me. I was like, what’s the problem with this guy? What does he want?”
As their train pulled into Sutphin Blvd station, one stop before the woman’s destination, she gathered her things and disembarked in an attempt to evade the creep. But the man followed her out of the train and peppered her with unwanted flattery as she got back on to continue her journey.
“I got up just to fake like I was leaving the train,” she explained. “When he got next to me I was like, ‘Why are you following me?’ He answered that I looked good and I smelled good. I told him to leave me alone and to walk away. He looked me up and down like he couldn’t believe I would say that.”
NYPD/DCPI
The woman was on her way to work at 6:15 a.m. on March 19 when the creep insisted on sitting beside her on the empty J train, she told the Daily News.
The woman got off at the Jamaica Center station — the train’s last stop — and the man followed her.
“I just went out and tried to walk fast thinking I was going to lose him with all those people,” she said. “I turned the corner and went inside my office. What I found strange was there’s always a guard but there was no one there.”
He tailed her all the way into the the Joseph P. Addabbo Federal Building on Jamaica Ave where she works in the Social Security office and beat her as she struggled to escape, she says.
“I had a rolling bag. He grabbed it because that’s the last thing behind me. When he grabbed it I pulled it and pulled him inside … The door closed right there and nobody was there — no guards. I’m like, ‘Where’s everybody? Nobody’s there.’”
She said the security guards at the building left her to fend for herself for at least a full minute before finally rushing to her aid as she tussled with the creep.
“I saw the guards talking to each other,” she said. “The guy sees one of the guards has a handcuff and he just took off. He just left. I’m standing there in shock. I can’t believe you let him go. There were three guards. Nobody could hold him?”
When a Daily News reporter asked a security guard at the federal building about the assault he denied that it ever occurred and directed all questions to the NYPD.
“I don’t sleep at night,” the victim said. “I keep waking up thinking this guy is in front of me or next to my bed. There’s times I can’t work because I can’t sleep.”
The suspect is described as about 5-foot-5 and 140 pounds with black hair. Besides the blue jacket, he was wearing a blue T-shirt, blue sweatpants, and light-colored sneakers.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
