A 70-year-old subway station attendant says he suffered multiple injuries when he was shoved onto the tracks by a turnstile jumper on Christmas Eve — and was just “inches” from the deadly third rail.
Jhonathan Martinez, 27, allegedly pushed Kumar Narinder onto the tracks at the closed Nassau Avenue station on the G line at around 2 a.m. after Narinder told him to leave, according to a criminal complaint filed in Brooklyn criminal court Tuesday.
“Lower your mask. I have corona. I’m going to give you corona,” Martinez allegedly said before shoving Narinder onto the tracks, according to the complaint.
The 20-year MTA employee suffered multiple injuries from the fall including a fractured spine and lacerations on his forehead and knees, the Brooklyn DA’s office said.
“I was inches from the third rail,” Narinder said in a statement provided by his union, Transport Workers Union Local 100.
“If my hand touched the third rail, I was no more. I was lucky.”
Martinez, who has one prior arrest for drunk driving, was indicted Tuesday on charges including first degree attempted assault and theft of services and is being held on $50,000 bail, the DA’s office said.
He faces up to 15 years behind bars.
“I’m very disgusted and very disappointed with the lack of protection for my members. It’s only by the grace of God that Kumar is still with us today,” said TWU Vice President Robert Kelley.
The subway has been closed from 1 to 5 a.m. every night since May. Station security is handled by a combination of NYPD, MTA police and paid contractors.
Transit officials have repeatedly called for more cops on the transit system and harsher penalties for assailants.
“We have zero tolerance for these heinous attacks on our heroic workers. We are grateful Mr. Narinder is alive and we wish him a smooth and speedy recovery,” MTA rep Abbey Collins said in a statement.
“New York City Transit has been laser-focused on this issue, working closely with prosecutors to hold perpetrators fully accountable, publishing worker assault statistics weekly and calling for an increased police presence throughout our system.”