A pair of straphangers beat a 35-year-old man unconscious on a Queens train in an unprovoked attack so violent that other commuters pulled the pair off their victim, cops said Friday.
The victim was on a southbound A train rumbling into the 104th St. station at Liberty Ave. in Kew Gardens about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday when two men three seats away — one dressed all in red and a second in a black hooded sweatshirt — suddenly stormed over and began yelling at him.
The pair then began pounding on the man, hitting him repeatedly in the face as they knocked him to the floor of the subway car.
A handful of good Samaritan straphangers pulled the two attackers away from the trapped victim as the thugs were kicking him multiple times, managing to subdue them briefly. But the assailants wriggled away and jumped off the train as it entered the station, police sources said.
The victim was knocked unconscious and suffered a seizure, cops said.
EMS rushed the victim to Jamaica Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition. His injuries do not appear to be life-threatening, cops were told.
Detectives investigating the attack recovered surveillance video of the assault, which was released publicly Friday.
As of Sept. 8, cops were celebrating a 4.6 percent drop in subway assaults this year, down from 394 at this time last year to 376.
The reduction is a massive improvement from March when cops were fighting a 15 percent jump in assaults. To combat the uptick, the NYPD added extra patrols in the city’s subway system and Gov. Hochul ordered the National Guard to conduct bag checks at key locations.
Anyone with information regarding Wednesday’s assault, or who recognizes the two attackers, is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
