New York Seeing Rise in Subway Assaults on Officers

The release of the stats come amid growing concern over an increase in transit violence in the city, with reports of riders punched, shoved, or slashed on the rise in recent weeks.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said last week that he would beef up the police presence by about 500 more officers following bloody slashing attacks on the A line that left two dead and two others wounded last week.

Felony assaults on police in New York City's subways are becoming more common, with 15 attacks on officers in January — up from just five over the same month in 2020, NYPD Transit Chief Kathleen O’Reilly said Thursday.

O’Reilly, speaking during an MTA board meeting, said that was a big chunk of the total of 43 felony assaults in the tubes last month, the New York Post reports.