Woman pushes two tourists onto New York subway tracks

Early on the morning of August 5, an unbalanced woman pushed two Mexican tourists onto the tracks of a Manhattan subway station, reports New York Post.

Ebony Butts, 42, was arrested after she pushed the women, ages 27 and 28, off platform F at the northbound Delancey Street/Essex Street station. It was an unprovoked attack.

Help from those who care

Passersby helped the tourists.

Joe Avivia, 36, a weekend tourist from Texas, said he and other passengers helped pull the women from the tracks.

On the subject: A passenger died under a New York subway train: he was pushed onto the tracks by a mentally unstable man

“It was surreal,” he said. “You hear stories of people being pushed onto the tracks, but seeing it happen in front of your eyes is something else entirely.” Everything happened very quickly."

The attack happened just after 2:15 a.m. stations Lower East Side. The two women stood on the mostly empty platform next to Avivia, who was chatting with his friends and family.

While they were waiting a train, Butts suddenly pushed one of the Mexican women onto the tracks.

Her friend rushed to help the woman onto the platform, but Butts pushed her too.

Bystanders, including Avivia, rushed to help and pulled the two women safely back onto the platform.

One of the victims was taken out of the station in a wheelchair, and rescuers helped the other up the stairs.

The women were on vacation. They came to New York from Mexico. They were taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment of minor injuries. They were later discharged on August 5th.

Long list of arrests

Police quickly detained Butts, who was barefoot, and took her away in handcuffs. She was charged with reckless endangerment and assault.

It was not immediately clear why the suspect, who did not appear to know the two women, attacked them.
Sources described Butts as emotionally disturbed. Records show she has at least nine previous arrests since 1999. The most recent was another unprovoked attack when she punched a 2016-year-old woman in the face in Brooklyn in 38.

“We run a special program we call SCOUT. In this program, three MTA police officers, along with a doctor, identify people with the most serious mental illnesses on the subway and send them to treatment voluntarily or, if necessary, involuntarily. We will continue to press the Governor for additional money to expand this program,” said Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Commissioner Janno Lieber.

Avivia remained with the two injured women on the platform when police arrived. After that, he told his friends about the ordeal.

“We joked about it, like, oh, this is real New York,” the Texan admitted.