Police arrested a woman who allegedly shoved two other women onto subway tracks in the Lower East Side early Monday morning.
According to law enforcement sources, the incident occurred on Aug. 5 at around 2:17 a.m. at the Delancey Street-Essex Street train station.
The suspect, 42-year-old Ebony Butts of Williams Avenue in Brooklyn, pushed two 28-year-old women onto the tracks, both of whom were standing on the F train platform, police said.
No train was arriving at the station at that moment, authorities said. Police officers assigned to the station, which is covered by Transit District 4, immediately rushed in to bring the two women to safety. The victims were then brought to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
Butts was arrested at the scene at around 2:49 a.m.Monday and charged with two counts second-degree reckless endangerment and two counts of third-degree assault.
Right now, the motive for the crime is unclear, but it does not appear that the suspect knows the two victims. According to the New York Post, the two victims were tourists visiting the city from Mexico.
The investigation remains ongoing.
The incident occurred after the city reported a nearly 14% decrease in transit crime from April 1 to June 30 this year compared to the same time in 2023.
On June 5, a woman was arrested for allegedly pushing an 18-year-old female straphanger onto a subway track in Queens. That victim was able to climb out of the tracks and was treated at the scene for lacerations to her knee.
