An F train rider was assaulted and robbed by an apparent Atlanta Braves baseball fan in Kew Gardens last month, and the suspect remains at large more than two weeks later.
Police from the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills and Transit District 20 reported that the incident occurred during the morning of Saturday, June 22, aboard a southbound F train that was approaching the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike subway station.
The assailant, cops said, walked up to a 55-year-old rider and struck him in the head multiple times. When the train arrived at the station—which serves riders heading to Queens Borough Hall, the Queens Criminal Courthouse and the Queens District Attorney’s Office—the assailant grabbed the man’s property and then fled the train. As he stumbled out of the subway car, the suspect dropped a cell phone and a bag on the platform.
The victim sustained facial injuries in the beating and EMS responded to the crime scene and transported him to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for treatment. An NYPD spokeswoman could not say what was in the bag.
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect on Wednesday morning that shows him passing through the station turnstiles holding a cell phone and described him as having a dark complexion with a mustache and a beard. He was wearing an Atlanta Braves baseball cap with a World Series logo on the side, dark sunglasses and a black leather jacket and he may have been a traveler because he had two pieces of luggage on a rolling baggage carrier or folding hand truck.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest.
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through June 30, the 112th Precinct has reported 41 robberies so far in 2024, seven more than the 34 reported at the same point last year, an increase of 20.6%, according to the most recent CompStat report. The precinct reported 50 assaults so far this year, one less than the 51 reported at the same point in 2023, a decline of 2%, according to CompStat.
