NYC woman, brother randomly attacked on MTA bus: ‘Not going to feel safe’

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (PIX11) — A Staten Island woman and her 15-year-old brother are recovering after they were repeatedly punched on an MTA bus Wednesday morning.

Italia Fajardo, 26, told PIX11 News she was taking her brother and 7-year-old son to a nearby pool to stay cool. When the S46 bus reached Clove Road, she said the man randomly attacked.

“Just randomly attacked us for no reason; we don’t know him; we’ve never seen him before,” she said.

“He just running around hitting people, so after that, everyone is like, get him off the bus,” Jake Fajardo told PIX11 News.

The MTA bus driver pulled over and called 911.

“I was standing by the doors holding on when he punched me; I flew off the bus, my slippers flew off outside, and my bag was scattered everywhere,” Italia said.

The suspect then ran off the bus and down Clove Road. EMS responded and transported the Fajardo family to the hospital to get checked out. All three had minor scrapes and bruises and were released within a few hours.

“Now I’m not going to feel safe on the buses or the trains. I feel like I’m forced to walk around with something on me to protect my family and me. They need to take people like that off the street because something worse could have happened,” Italia said.

Most MTA buses have cameras on board, but the MTA referred PIX11 News to the NYPD when asked if this particular bus had a working camera.

Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org , downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

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