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Suspect Charged After Subway Assault In Long Island City, Queens

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A suspect was arrested and charged Monday in a callous attack at a subway station in Long Island City, Queens.

Jerome Blakely, 44, whose address is listed at a homeless shelter on the Bowery, was charged with second-degree assault, police said.

As CBS2's Scott Rapoport reported, police said the assailant shoved a 69-year-old man down the stairs at the 36th Street M and R train station around 1:30 p.m. this past Wednesday.

Police sources told CBS2 detectives that someone recognized the suspect him from surveillance video and called in a tip, sources said.

The suspect was picked up Monday afternoon in Greenwich Village, sources said.

Late Monday, the victim, Egwuatu Amalu, was hospitalized with a fractured knee. His son and daughter talked with CBS2's Ali Bauman.

Egwuatu Amalu
Egwuatu Amalu, 69, was shoved down the stairs at the 36th Street M and R train station in Long Island City, Queens. (Credit: Nnoyelum Amalu)

"I feel terrible about it," said the victim's son, Nndami Amalu. "I don't understand -- like, why him; like, what happened and everything?"

"He said that he never saw anyone coming," said Nnoyelum Amalu, the victim's daughter. "He looked around and didn't see anybody."

The Amalus told CBS2's Bauman their father said nothing to provoke the stranger.

"Normally, if my father goes down the stairs, he always makes sure that he's holding the railing there," said Nnoyelum Amalu. "But my father said that he wasn't even able to hold it; that the guy already pushed him down."

Meanwhile, many subway riders were suffering from frayed nerves Monday after the cruel and seemingly unprovoked attack.

"I thought it was horrible," said Rene Melvin of Jamaica, Queens.

"Makes me feel bad because I'm also a senior citizen too," said Laverne Mallory of Brownsville, Brooklyn. "Could have been me coming down those stairs."

CBS2's Bauman spoke with victim Egwuatu Amalu on the phone from his hospital bed and told him of the arrest.

"I think I should be happy they arrested someone who did this," he said.

Amalu's children said they do not know when their father will be released from the hospital, but he should be starting physical therapy in the coming days.

CBS2's Jessica Layton has learned that suspect Blakely is expected to be arraigned Tuesday morning in Queens Criminal Court.

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