An off-duty NYPD civilian employee who works in the department's intelligence division was randomly attacked by a stranger at a Manhattan subway station on Independence Day, according to two senior law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case.
The 53-year-old NYPD employee told authorities she had boarded a southbound No. 4 train at the Fulton Street station just before 11 p.m. when a man she didn't know who was wearing ripped sweatpants and white sneakers somehow shoved her into a pole on the train, according to the sources.
The woman said she wasn't sure if he hit her or if he pushed her into the pole, but she says she suffered eye swelling and other pain, the law enforcement sources said.
The attacker ran off, while the NYPD employee was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, the sources said. She is expected to be OK.
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The NYPD said Wednesday evening that suspect, Muslim Brunson, had been arrested after being found near the Canal Street N/Q/R/W station in Tribeca. The 43-year-old Brunson, who lives in Maryland, was charged with felony assault.
It was just the latest in a series of random attacks that have plagued the subway system in recent months. One of the more recent cases in June involved a man who allegedly attacked people twice on separate 7 trains over the same weekend. Those victims needed 36 stitches and two life-saving surgeries to heal their wounds, officials said.
