A man has been arrested after a brutal attack on a 78-year-old woman on the New York City subway earlier this month was caught on film by other riders, police said Saturday.
The NYPD on Friday released surveillance photos and footage of the man, calling for information on what Chief of Detectives Dermot F. Shea described as “a heinous attack” on the elderly woman.
The incident occurred on the number 2 train in Nereid Ave Station in the Bronx shortly after 3 a.m. on March 10.
Extremely graphic video seen by millions of people on Twitter showed the man kicking the woman in the face twice, then in the body four more times.
Passengers could be seen yelling as they filmed the encounter, but no one appeared to have intervened.
Police said the man fled the train, while the woman rode one more stop and was then met by emergency services.
She was treated for bleeding, swelling, and cuts to her face, but refused further medical attention.
Rapper and actor Ice-T was among those who shared video of the attack on social media, calling for the perpetrator to be brought to justice. “This is some coward ass shit… WTF,” he wrote. “Fuck everybody on that train that watched and filmed this BS.. This MF needs to get stomped the Fuck out!”
In a tweet Saturday, Chief Shea said the man in the video was in custody.
“Thank you to the worldwide community for the tremendous assistance,” he said.
NYPD officials identified the suspect arrested as Marc Gomez, 36, of Yonkers.
He was charged with two counts of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree assault, and one count of harassment.