An unhinged man randomly slugged a female MTA worker in the face in a Midtown station, claiming he attacked her “because the voices in my head were talking to me,” prosecutors say.
Robert Ray, 33, followed the station agent as she stopped to check on some escalators on her way to the bathroom in the East 53rd Street and Lexington hub in Manhattan around 6:05 a.m. Sept. 16, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said.
Ray then ran up to the worker and punched her in the face, causing her to fall to the ground and leaving her with swelling and bruising, prosecutors said.
The suspect took off but was busted later that day and charged with second-degree assault, a felony, officials said.
During an interview with a detective, Ray first denied any wrongdoing and asked if there was any proof and whether he was going to jail, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
But then he changed his tune – claiming he didn’t mean to hurt the worker, the court doc reveals.
“I got mad because voices in my head [were] talking to me,” he claimed. “I did not try to hurt her, don’t have anything against her. I was just mad.
“It was an accident, didn’t mean to hurt her, only hit her one time,” Ray continued, according to the indictment. “Is this a felony? How is this a felony? But it was just one little hit. Can you talk to [the] victim, tell her sorry, I didn’t do nothing.”
He was ordered held on $25,000 cash bail, $50,000 insurance company bond and $100,000 partially secured surety bond, the DA’s office said.
“As alleged, Robert Ray punched an MTA employee in an unprovoked attack, causing her to fall to the ground,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“Millions of New Yorkers rely on the hard work of our dedicated MTA employees every day, and we will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to ensure our transit system is safe. I hope the victim continues to heal from this assault,” Bragg said.
In another more recent attack on an MTA worker, Jonathan Davalos, 27, was charged with attempted murder for brutally stabbing a 60-year-old male employee who asked him to leave a Brooklyn train at the last stop Tuesday, cops said.
Davalos has a long rap sheet that includes an eerily similar assault on a transit worker and another knifing three years ago, according to authorities and sources.
