The creep suspected of bludgeoning a “hero’’ city health worker with a hammer in a Queens subway station was arrested Sunday, police said.
William Blount, 57, is facing charges of attempted murder, robbery and assault for the brutal Thursday evening attack that critically wounded victim Nina Rothschild, 57, at the Queens Plaza E, M and R station.
The attack was denounced by the Mayor Eric Adams, who said Friday that “a woman taking the train should not be struck in the head with a hammer.”
Rothschild was headed home from her job as a research scientist with the New York City Health Department when she was attacked at around 11:20 p.m.
Blount, whose last known address is in Astoria, has a half-dozen prior arrests — including on charges of robbery and criminal possession of a controlled substance, sources said.
Records show he served time in the late 1980s for attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Footage shows Blount allegedly creeping up behind her on the stairs and kicking her in what seemed like an attempt to make her fall. He then hit the scientist several times in the head, fracturing her skull, and ran off with her pocketbook, cops said.
Blount allegedly stole two cellphones, debit cards, credit cards and an unknown amount of money from Rothschild, according to police. The victim was taken to Weill Cornell Medical in critical condition.
“From what she told me on the phone, she was just walking down the steps to get into the subway on the way home from work when she was attacked by somebody from behind,” said her brother, Gerson Rothschild, a scientist at Columbia University, to ABC-TV.
“She kept screaming, ‘Stop! Stop!’ but the person either wouldn’t stop,” the brother added.
On Sunday evening, Rothschild welcomed the news of Blount’s arrest.
“Nina would be hopeful that the individual would get the treatment that he needs during his time of incarceration,” he told The Post in an email.
“Happily, Nina is indeed getting stronger by the day. Intellectually she is clear on events from 30 years ago and from 3 days ago and I attribute that to the excellent care of the trauma team at NYP-Weill Cornell who knew to relieve the increased intracranial pressure immediately upon her arrival at the hospital,” he continued.
“She has not yet gotten out of bed so that questions of coordination and balance remain currently unanswered.”
City Health Department Commissioner Dave Chokshi called Rothschild a “hero.”
“Nina has worked tirelessly in service to her fellow New Yorkers and she is truly a public health hero,” Chokshi said in a statement following the attack.
“The Health Department and I will do everything we can to support her in her recovery — and we ask that all New Yorkers keep her and her family in their thoughts while respecting their privacy during this difficult time.”
Her neighbor Martha, who didn’t give her last name, told The Post last week that Rothschild “works really hard” for the people of New York.
“I know that because she comes home really late,” she said.
The station where Rothschild was attacked was apparently one where more cops had been added as part of the mayor’s plan to combat subway crime and violence.
Another Queens straphanger was struck over the head in an unprovoked attack the same night Rothschild was beaten with a hammer.
Two attackers boarded the northbound R train at the 67th Avenue subway station around 9 p.m. Thursday and hit a 35-year-old passenger in the head “with an unknown object causing a laceration and bleeding,” cops said in a statement. The suspects fled, and the victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition.
