Subway Cleaner Assault Suspect Charged

MTA Worker Trying to Help Straphanger Assaulted at Pelham Bay Station

Subway cleaner Anthony Nelson suffered a broken arm and nose during an assault at Pelham Bay Station. -Photo by TWU Local 100

BRONX - The man accused of sending a hero subway cleaner to the hospital with broken bones was charged with assault, prosecutors say.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced that a Alexander Wright, 49, has been indicted for second-degree Assault and additional charges for attacking an NYC Transit Authority employee in the Pelham Bay Park train station, slamming him to the ground causing broken bones.

 

“This employee was doing his job of cleaning and checking on conditions at the Pelham Bay Park train station, when he went to observe a man whom he was told was harassing people. The defendant approached the employee and assaulted him, causing serious injuries,” Clark said. “This was unconscionable. Anyone who assaults a transit worker will be held accountable.”

Alexander Wright has been charged with assaulting an MTA employee at the Pelham Bay Station.

 

Clark said the defendant, Wright was arraigned on two counts of second-degree Assault and third-degree Assault before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas. Bail status was continued. 

The defendant is due back in court on November 3, 2022.

         

According to the investigation, at approximately 8:40 a.m. on August 11, 2022, the victim, Anthony Nelson, a NYC Transit Authority Station Cleaner, went to check a report of a man harassing people on the lower level of the Pelham Bay Park train station. 

The defendant allegedly approached Nelson, punching him in the face, then allegedly grabbed him and slammed him to the ground. 

The victim suffered a dislocated nose, broken collarbone, and other injuries, and required two surgeries to fix the collar bone.

 

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.