A teen was arrested Thursday on felony assault charges in an attack that sent two Long Island Rail Road conductors to the hospital.
The 17-year-old boy was riding the LIRR through Brooklyn towards Atlantic Terminal around 10:40 a.m. Wednesday when two conductors asked him for his ticket, the MTA police said in a statement.
The teen refused, grabbed the conductor’s ticketing machine, and attacked the two men, according to police. He then fled the train at the East New York station.
Both conductors suffered serious injuries and went to a Brooklyn hospital for treatment, said police. One conductor was hurt in his arm and shoulder, while the other suffered injuries to his face and swelling around his eye, cops said.
“Assaulting conductors who are doing their jobs helping riders get to jobs, healthcare and other places they need to go is intolerable, outrageous and will result in aggressive investigation,” MTA Police chief John Mueller said in a statement.
“Having made a rapid arrest, it is now up to prosecutors to ensure the law is enforced, so this violent perpetrator faces consequences, and the victims receive justice they deserve,” Mueller added.
Anthony Simon, head of the union representing LIRR workers, also called for the teen’s prosecution.
“Two of our conductors were brutally attacked just doing their jobs trying to collect fares on the Atlantic Branch,” he said. “These assaults must be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible and a ban imposed to send a clear message to all riders that assaulting our members will not be tolerated.”
The teen faces two counts of felony assault in the second degree and one count of second degree robbery.