A subway fare beater blasted two NYPD cops with Mace after they caught him redhanded trying to slip in through the emergency exit at an East Harlem subway station early Wednesday, authorities said.
The 57-year-old suspect snuck into the No. 6 subway station at East 116th Street and Lexington Avenue just after 3 a.m. – but was caught in the act by two on-duty officers, the NYPD said.
The officers spotted the offense and approached the man – who promptly whipped out a canister and sprayed Mace into the cops’ faces, police said.
The assailant was immediately cuffed, and charges were pending later in the morning, cops said.
Both officers were taken to a local hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.
Another alleged subway criminal recently used the emergency exit to enter the subway system, authorities said last week.
Dajuan Robinson, 36 – who was repeatedly shot with his own gun after allegedly launching a violent rush hour fight on board an A train approaching the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station – was previously caught on video entering the Nostrand Avenue station through the emergency gate.
“Sometimes people ask why we do such big operations for somebody not paying a $2.90 fare,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said at a related press conference Friday. “We are seeing a small group of people, a small group of individuals, who we catch during these fare-evasion operations that are recidivists that have warrants, that have guns, that have knives, yet they don’t pay their fare.”
“So it’s important for us to do these quality-of-life operations. Small things like walking through an exit gate, through an emergency gate, hopping over the turnstile, leads to big things.’’
