A Brooklyn straphanger who suffered every runner’s worst nightmare on Friday when a deranged woman randomly threw suspected acid in his face told the Post that she worked with the mentally ill — and something had to hopelessly be done.
The 21-year-old Kings County hospital worker, who asked not to be named, said she felt like her face was ‘on fire’ when her attacker sprayed her on the caustic liquid around 1:10 a.m.
“She seemed delirious and aggressive to me,” said the health worker, who was heading to work at the time and may now need a skin graft for her burns.
The attack came just days after Mayor Eric Adams announced a new plan to take people with mental illness into custody if they appear to pose a danger to themselves or others.
Friday’s victim said that before she was attacked she used her mobile phone to record the mumblings of another woman who was walking around shoving people.
The attacker was apparently wearing pajamas and spitting profanities as she occasionally typed on a cellphone, video of her rant shows.
“I hope your children will be pushed and your mother will be pushed,” she hears hissing at the runners.
The disturbed woman then followed the victim off the train to the Winthrop Avenue subway station, still muttering the whole time.
“By the time we get to the stairs, all I hear is her saying, ‘Oh, I can show you better than I can tell you,’ and she’s pouring the cash on me,” a said the victim. “She’s pouring acid on my face.”
The victim described the mixture as liquid acid combined with a sticky substance.
“I was just panicked. I was in so much pain. I’ve never been in a tough situation like this,” the lifelong New Yorker said. “I was freaking out. I knew I couldn’t. wipe with my hand because it would fall to my hand.
The skin on his nose has hardened and doctors believe the fluid has burned his nerves, cartilage and tissue so badly “that they could do a transplant”, the worker said.
“It hurt tremendously. It felt like my face was on fire,” she said. “It felt like pins and needles times 10. It was the worst pain ever.”
The victim said there were no police or cameras in the station at the time of the attack.
“If I hadn’t had these videos, we wouldn’t even know what this woman looks like at all,” she said.
“There are police arresting people jumping on the train every 5 seconds, but when it comes to throwing acid, when it comes to literal rape or sexual assault, any other thing that harms a person’s sanity, there’s no police in sight.. That’s the problem.
She said the attack could have been prevented if the attacker “had received the right mental health care.
“That’s what kills me: it could have been one of my patients,” the victim said.
“All we can do is pray because it’s not like the justice system has proven to actually deliver justice, so let’s see what Eric Adams does.”
Other straphangers were shaken by the news of the latest incident of random violence on the subway.
“The crime situation has really gotten out of hand,” Rafael Bains, 61, said while waiting for a C train at the Jay Street-MetroTech stop in Brooklyn on Friday.
“It makes me a little more careful to be in there, especially with my grandson. I have to make sure he’s okay,” said Bains, an East New York resident.
“So many innocent people are being hurt for no reason,” he added. “He may be someone mentally ill, but what can we do? We have to watch ourselves.
Amanda Gonzalez, 35, said Adams’ plan was a good idea because “there are a lot of crazy people on the train”.
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