A man from Manhattan boarded on the subway tracks by an unknown stranger had a message for Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday: “Get these nuts on the road.”
Randall Weaver, 60, called on the mayor to keep passengers safe amid a wave of unproven attacks on the transit system.
“We need protection,” Weaver said on Monday, with his hand still in sling due to injuries inflicted on Saturday morning’s tragic incident.
“Just be careful and get these nuts off the road, bus.”
A park department employee for more than 15 years, Weaver was on his way to work at around 5:15 in the morning when a man pushed him off the stage at the 135th Street station.
Weaver said that he never saw Manik coming.
“He didn’t say anything to me. He was calm, ”the Harlem resident recalled. “It was one of those things, just the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Weaver couldn’t pull himself back onto the platform after suffering an arm and shoulder injury – but fortunately, the three buyers stepped in to help, he said.
“I thank them very much because another 10, 15 minute train probably arrives,” said Weaver.
Even after the chilling experience, Weaver said he was back on a train to work – but was forced to turn around due to pain in his arm.
He returns to the station where he was attacked, and asks the MTA worker to call an ambulance.
Police were also present at the scene, who nabbed the alleged attacker, whom Weaver identified.
Weaver said, “He needs to shut up.”
Before he was capped, Weaver spots his assailant getting off the No. 2 train, which he missed, and recalls the boy saying “acting all crazy.”
Weaver remembered, “The man got off the train picking up the trash, got into the turnstile, knocked on the glass of the token booth like he wanted to break it.”
“Then he returned to the other side, quiet calm, no problem,” said Weaver. “I was removed from the way.”
Moving forward, Weaver said he would stand on the other side of the turnstile until a train arrived – so that he would not have to wait on the platform.
“I didn’t get a choice, that’s the only way I get to work,” he said of going back to the transit system.
In addition to injuring his hands and shoulders, Weaver said he also suffered injuries and head injuries. He is yet to return to work due to his injuries.
Although he “thanked me with all my heart” to the NYPD, Weaver said he did not understand why the officers were not paying attention to their efforts to protect the straphangers.
“It makes no sense because right now, everyone is afraid of riding on trains,” he said.
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