A brute with nearly two dozen prior arrests bashed a teen with a hammer on board a Bronx train Monday — all because the victim wouldn’t give up his seat for a woman, cops said.
The 19-year-old victim told police he was riding a northbound D train approaching the 167th Street station around 5 p.m. when another rider — later identified as Tommy Sprauve, 26 — started tapping on his phone, asking him to get up so a woman could sit, authorities said.
The teen ignored the pestering — until Sprauve suddenly hit him once in the face with a hammer, causing a cut and swelling on his left eye, cops said.
As the victim got off the train, officers who were on board the train but in a different car spotted him bleeding from the forehead, authorities and sources said.
The teen pointed out the alleged attacker, who was carrying a hammer, cops said.
Sprauve, of the Bronx, was taken into custody and charged with assault with intent to cause serious physical injury, authorities said. His arraignment was pending Tuesday evening.
The victim, meanwhile, was taken to BronxCare Health System, where he was treated for his severe cut but listed in stable condition, police said.
Sprauve has 20 prior busts on his rap sheet — the most recent for burglary at a Bronx homeless shelter less than two weeks ago, cops said.
In that case, he is accused of entering the building on Honeywell Avenue near East 179th Street in West Farms, where he was seen on camera entering the building and going into the basement, where he broke the door and picked the lock of a storage room, authorities said.
He was found inside the room by a security guard, cops said.
Sprauve was released without bail during his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court, records show.
In October, he was busted for burglary and separately charged with an arson that took place in July, according to police.
Monday’s violence came as the NYPD announced 700 more cops would begin patrolling the rails overnight this week.
It also came after several people were slashed, shoved or beaten in the subway system over the past week.
