What began as an ordinary morning journey on the N train for Alex Rakitin quickly turned into something else when the man sitting next to him became upset.
Rakitin told Eyewitness News that he has had similar contacts with people on the train, but this is the first time something developed into an assault.
“He’s being aggressive that apparently I sat too close to him, even though I wasn’t in an adjacent seat,” he told me. “It’s just that he believed that was his own area, and he was extremely pushy. I told him to chill out. Just chill. It’s 8:30 in the morning. Just heading to work. Nobody needs this. Just relax. “And he simply escalated.”
The incident occurred shortly after 8:30 a.m. on Monday.
A witness video shows the man, identified as Timothy Barbee, punching Rakitin in the face and sending his glasses flying.
The video may have ended at that point, but the confrontation continued.
“I got on top of him and I just grabbed ahold of him.” Rakitin spoke. “And I thought, ‘Just don’t let go because he’s much bigger than me.'” I’m not sure what was on his mind, so I just held him until the cops arrived.”
Rakitin claims the 34-year-old then began calling for aid, but he refused to release go, fearing what Barbee would do next.
Barbee was arrested and charged with assault. Rakitin was not gravely injured.
This incident occurred while Mayor Eric Adams praised the decrease in subway crime.
“As you are aware, crime has decreased for the past ten months in a row. Even last month, we saw a more than 20% decrease in crime on our subway system,” he stated.
However, for some, such as Rakitin, those figures do not accurately reflect their daily experiences.
“Everybody that gets on the subway in the morning knows they’re going down into a dangerous place,” he told me. “That’s just the reality we live in.”
Raegan Medgie has more on what to anticipate on the highways and in airports as people travel for Thanksgiving.