A Bronx man was arrested Wednesday morning and booked at the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows for an unprovoked attack on a 7 train rider in Corona nearly two weeks earlier.
Marlon Serrano, 51, of Wales Avenue in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court later in the day, where he was criminally charged with assault in the second degree for the beatdown that occurred on a Flushing-bound 7 train on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 13.
The 37-year-old man was approached by Serrano and another man, who remains at large, and engaged in a verbal dispute with the victim at around 6:35 a.m. as the train approached the 103rd Street-Corona Plaza station. The argument escalated into violence when Serrano allegedly struck him on his head multiple times with a coffee tumbler with enough force to break the tumbler, causing the victim to sustain lacerations to his head and considerable pain, according to the criminal complaint.
The unapprehended man then threw an umbrella at the victim as the two men exited the train and fled the station on foot onto Corona Plaza. EMS responded to the scene and transported the victim to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition and received eight staples to close the lacerations on his head, according to the criminal complaint.
A detective from the Queens Transit Crimes Squad who was working the investigation heard that Serrano had been taken into custody by the Queens Special Victims Squad in a separate investigation, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case. The Transit detective sent video stills obtained from surveillance video showing Serrano attacking the 7 train rider and the Special Victims detective who confirmed it was Serrano.
At his arraignment on Wednesday, Serrano was ordered to return to court on May 6. The NYPD is still seeking Serrano’s accomplice. A reward of up to $3,500 is offered for information leading to his arrest.
Anyone with information regarding this assault 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 confidential.
