Drunk investment banker arrested after slugging MTA worker in face: officials
A drunken investment banker slugged a female transit worker at a Brooklyn subway station — before she gave him a black eye with her lunch bag and coworkers cornered him for cops, officials said Sunday.
Well-heeled suspect Jean-Francois Coste, 53, was in the Stillwell Avenue station on Coney Island around 12:15 a.m. when he punched the 56-year-old train operator, cops said.
Tanya McCray, 56, had been starting her shift and just leaving the “crew room” on the public mezzanine at the station when Coste – a senior equity analyst at Tocqueville Asset Management – tried to get inside, a TWU Local 100 spokesman said.
“It’s not a public area,” the union rep said. “He was apparently drunk. She pushed the door so it clicks and locks, and he punched her in the face at least twice.”
McCray, a 21-year veteran of the MTA and train operator, fought back and began striking Coste with her lunch bag, which had a thermos inside, leaving the suspect with a black eye and several scratches, officials said.
After another transit worker came to her aid, the banker allegedly ran away down the train platform.
“All the workers from the crew room come out and run after him,” the spokesman said. “He jumped on a train, and the transit workers cornered him.”
Coste was arrested and charged with assaulting a transit employee, harassment and menacing. He was released without bail, and his next court date was set for March.
McCray said she was taken off-guard by the attack.
“I didn’t see him punch me,” she said through the union. “I didn’t see the punch, it happened so fast.”
McCray, who suffered bruises and was taken to a local hospital, said she hopes her attacker is punished.
“I just hope justice is served,” McCray said. “I hope he sees jail time. It’s not fair that people think they can just assault us and it’s ok. It’s not OK. We’re just here to do our job.”
The Transit Workers Union plans to make a show of force at Coste’s court hearing, the spokesman said.
Richard Davis, president of TWU Local 100, said the public “should be treating transit workers as heroes, not punching bags.
“Time and time again we’ve stepped up for this city, most recently working through the pandemic, and this is the thanks we get. It has to stop. We will see this guy in court.”
NYC Transit Chief Operating Officer Craig Cipriano said the MTA has “zero tolerance” for assaults on its workers.
“Train operators work at all hours of the day and night to keep this city moving,” he said. “We have zero tolerance when they are senselessly attacked and are grateful to the NYPD for swiftly apprehending the suspect.”
Coste could not be reached for comment. The private phone number listed to him was disconnected, and no one answered the door Sunday at his brownstone in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. He also did not respond to a message from The Post left on his work phone.
-Additional reporting by Kyle Schnitzer and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
