Alleged turnstile jumper was wanted for attempted murder
Cops busted an alleged turnstile jumper in Upper Manhattan and discovered he was wanted for attempted murder — which transit sources said is exactly why New York should not go soft on farebeaters.
The Manhattan DA’s office recently announced it will stop prosecuting almost all new fare-beat cases starting this month, a move that angered subway officials and cops, who countered that turnstile jumpers sometimes turn out to be bigger fish.
That was the case with Thursday’s predawn arrest of Salim Bradley, 22, of East Harlem, inside the Central Park North 2/3 station at 110th Street.
A pair of transit anti-terror cops, officers Justin Berey and Christian Dubose, were on plainclothes patrol just before 6 a.m. when they saw a man slide in through the emergency exit without paying, police said.
The two cops tried to stop the man, but he jumped onto the northbound track and began running southbound, police said.
The cops flagged down an oncoming train, instructing its conductor to stop while they searched for the man, who they then pursued along the train tracks into the next station south, at 96th Street, where he was arrested, police said.
The man was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital for treatment of a minor cut to his hand, sustained when he’d jumped down from the platform, police said.
A records check revealed that he is wanted in Virginia for an open attempted murder case, police said.
“This is why fare evasion arrests matter. You potentially stop some very dangerous people from entering the subways,” said Andrew Albert, an MTA board member who heads the New York City Transit Riders Council.
“Once the word gets out that nobody is going to be prosecuted, why would anyone pay their fare?” he said.
Failing to prosecute fare-beaters could lead to a costly cascade of bad news for law-abiding riders, he argued.
“You’ll have massive fare loss and people getting into the [subway] system who shouldn’t be there,” he predicted. “Fare hikes will come more frequently and crime will go up.”
Albert said fare beating is already too widespread and he sees people sneaking into the system every time he’s in a subway station.
Every day after school, students sneak in at 86th and Broadway, and the other day, he saw an elderly couple waiting for someone to come through the emergency gate so they could sneak in, he said.
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“I’m not even sure ridership is down as much as the numbers say — I think paying ridership is down,” he added.
“What an insult to millions of New Yorkers who are doing the right thing and paying their fare.”
It’s a good thing the two brave transit cops ignored prosecutors’ announcement promising a “free ride” for most fare-beaters, and made the arrest anyway, one police source told The Post.
“People who pay $2.75 every trip deserve to take the train without sitting next to a guy wanted for attempted murder,” the source said.
“It’s no surprise that beating the fare can go hand-in-hand with ignoring every other law,” the source added.