A 25-year-old man with a lengthy criminal record was taken into custody after police say he shoved a woman onto the tracks of an R-line train and punched a second woman in Brooklyn on Saturday.
Authorities identified the suspect as Curtis Signal. He was arrested at a nearby homeless shelter and faces charges of assault, harassment and reckless endangerment, according to local reports.
The first victim, a 51-year-old woman, sustained broken ribs after being pushed. A 43-year-old woman suffered a split lip in the same incident on the R subway line in Brooklyn.
Police records show Signal is on probation through June 2027. Previous allegations against him include punching a 67-year-old woman in 2023 and assaulting a police officer a week later. He has also been accused of attacking a 31-year-old woman at a doctor’s office and of striking his 13-year-old sister.
A neighbor who learned about the attack through a friend of one of the victims predicted Signal would not remain jailed. “He did wrong to those people and he is not going to stop until someone sends him to the cemetery,” Al Rivera said, adding that the system is a “rotating door.”
The New York Post first reported the
arrest and published video and social posts about the episode.
City transit data show crime on New York City subways has risen 17% year over year, officials reported. Assaults increased by about 9% — 71 incidents compared with 65 last year — while robberies climbed roughly 58%. This week, a man was fatally attacked at a Bronx station, the city’s first subway homicide of the year.
Commuters said the uptick has made them uneasy. “Every time I hear something like this, I get more fearful,” said Yolene Martinez, who avoids taking trains to Manhattan when she can.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pledged an agenda focused on safety and affordability, but he has faced criticism from opponents after suggesting a mentally ill man who rushed at officers with a knife should receive treatment rather than prosecution; police fatally shot that suspect when he charged them with a large kitchen knife, according to reports.
The mayor has also been pressed over the rising number of homeless deaths this winter; as of Thursday, nineteen people had died amid severe cold. Former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa blamed city policy for the situation, saying resources appear diverted to undocumented immigrants and that promised homeless outreach teams are not visible on the streets.
The investigation into the Brooklyn subway assault remains active as prosecutors decide the next steps.
