By Colin Mixson, John Annese, Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — An NYPD cop returning home from work was sucker-punched and thrown onto the tracks at an East Village subway station in a random attack from a homeless man on the loose despite a lengthy criminal record including four arrests in the last seven weeks, police said Wednesday.
The 24-year-old officer was waiting for an L train at the Third Ave. station at E.14th St. after working a police detail at the United Nations General Assembly when he was attacked about 7:35 p.m. Tuesday , cops said.
The attacker punched the unsuspecting cop, who was not in uniform, in the back of head and then grabbed him by the shirt and threw him onto the tracks, officials said. The assailant also tumbled off the platform during the struggle.
Both men managed to get back onto the platform before the train arrived at the station. The cop was helped up by a good Samaritan who witnessed the attack, officials said.
After the two fought some more, the attacker ran off, witnesses told police. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
“I’m sorry that happened to him,” the young officer’s neighbor in Bedford - Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, who gave her name only as Lorraine, told the Daily News Wednesday. The News is withholding the name of the officer, who joined the department in January 2023. “He’s a very good person.”
Cops caught up with suspect Aaron Walker, 28, on an L train at the 14th St.-Union Square station.
Police hit Walker with a slew of charges including attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, trespass, and disorderly conduct. His last known address is a homeless shelter in Harlem , cops said.
Sporting a pink jacket and a black “It: Chapter Two” hoodie with a picture of Pennywise the Clown on it, Walker said nothing as cops escorted him out of the NYPD Transit District 4 stationhouse to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court. His arraignment was pending Wednesday.
Walker has a long criminal history, including 28 prior arrests, 10 of them felonies, police said.
Before the subway platform clash, Walker had been arrested four times in just the last seven weeks — twice in Brooklyn and twice in Manhattan.
In one of the Brooklyn cases, he is accused of repeatedly punching a man he was seated next to on a C train heading into the Kingston-Throop Aves station in Bedford - Stuyvesant on Sept. 13.
He was arrested on Aug. 9 for trying to swipe eight vinyl records valued at $300 from the Barnes & Noble store on Court St. near Atlantic Ave. in Cobble Hill, documents show.
None of the charges he faced in Brooklyn were bail eligible— which Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry says is part of a “broken criminal justice system that has put police officers and all New Yorkers in harm’s way.”
“We’re thankful that our brother is recovering, but our leaders need to face the fact that if police officers aren’t safe on our streets and subways, nobody is,” Hendry said Wednesday.
In the two Manhattan cases, cops arrested Walker on a burglary charge near Union Square on Sept. 3 and for petty larceny and possession of stolen property in lower Manhattan on Sept. 17.
Walker has upcoming court appearances on all four of those recent cases.
The neighbor who gave her name as Lorraine has known the off-duty cop, who is assigned to the 13th Precinct, since he moved into her building five years ago.
She gave him a glowing recommendation when the NYPD visited the building, doing a background check after he applied for the Police Academy.
“I just told them that he’s a good person. He never gets into any trouble,” she recalled. “He was always well mannered. We always clicked. We spoke. He seen me, he would hold the door for me.”
“He always looked out for people. He’s a good soul,” she said. “I hope he recovers well from this.”
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