Creep Punches Woman, Spits In Her Face On Midtown Subway Platform, Police Say

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A man is facing charges for assaulting a woman in a Midtown subway station after a verbal dispute on a train, police told Patch.

Abel Adames, a 33-year-old resident of Academy Street in Inwood, was arrested Sunday and charged with assault, police said. Adames is accused of spitting on and punching a 34-year-old woman on the platform of the Seventh Avenue and West 53rd Street subway station, police told Patch.

Adames sat next to the victim on a northbound E train shortly after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 12, police said. The two got into a verbal argument when the woman asked Adames — who was encroaching on her space — for a moment to readjust her position, police told Patch.

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As the train was arriving at Seventh Avenue and West 53rd Street the woman prepared to exit when the man spit on the back of her head, police said. The man then followed her off the train when a struggle ensued on the platform, police said. The woman attempted to stop Adames by grabbing his backpack and Adames punched the woman in the shoulder and spit in her face, police said.

Adames re-boarded the E train and fled the station, police said. The woman suffered pain to her shoulder but refused medical attention at the scene, police told Patch.

Photo by NYPD