By Larry Celona, Joe Marino, Amanda Woods and Emily Crane
Published Aug. 5, 2024 | Updated Aug. 5, 2024, 8:04 a.m. ET
An unhinged woman with a lengthy rap sheet allegedly violently shoved two female Mexican tourists onto the tracks at a Manhattan subway station early Monday, the NYPD and sources said.
Ebony Butts, 42, was arrested after pushing the victims, ages 28 and 27, off the northbound F platform at the Delancey Street/Essex Street station on the Lower East Side just after 2:15 a.m., according to cops.
The women had been waiting for the train when the suspect suddenly approached and allegedly shoved one of them onto the tracks in an unprovoked attack, police said.
A photo shows the suspected subway shover. Robert Mecea
Officials arrest the suspect at the scene. Robert Mecea
As the other tourist scrambled to help the woman back up onto the platform, Butts then allegedly shoved the second victim as well, cops added.
Bystanders rushed to help and pulled the two women safely back onto the platform, police said.
No train was incoming at the time of the incident.
One of the victims was spotted being taken out of the station in a wheelchair, while the other had to be helped up the stairs by first responders, photos taken by The Post show.
The women, who law enforcement sources said were on vacation from Mexico, were taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
Police and EMS assist one of two women who were pushed onto the subway tracks. Robert Mecea
Officers already assigned to patrol the station quickly took the barefoot female perp into custody and hauled her away in cuffs.
Butts has since been charged with reckless endangerment and assault.
It wasn’t immediately clear why the suspect, who did not appear to know the two women, targeted the victims.
A woman is assisted after the shove. Robert Mecea
Sources described Butts, who was taken to Bellevue Hospital for an evaluation, as an emotionally disturbed person.
She has at least nine prior arrests to her name dating back to 1999, records show.
The most recent arrest on her rap sheet was another unprovoked attack where she punched a random 38-year-old woman in the face in Brooklyn in 2016.
MTA boss Janno Lieber, during an unrelated press conference later Monday, stressed the need to boost state funding to help clear the subway system of mentally ill people.
“Listen, we have made getting the seriously mentally ill people out of the subway, a huge priority, in addition to everything that’s being done at the state and the city level,” Lieber said during an unrelated press conference.
“We’re running a special program we call SCOUT, which puts three MTA police officers with a clinician to find the most seriously mentally ill people and to get them into treatment voluntarily, most of the time, but involuntarily if necessary, so we’re gonna keep pushing the governor has given us extra money to expand that program.”
— Additional reporting by Aneeta Bhole
Source (Archive)
Published Aug. 5, 2024 | Updated Aug. 5, 2024, 8:04 a.m. ET
An unhinged woman with a lengthy rap sheet allegedly violently shoved two female Mexican tourists onto the tracks at a Manhattan subway station early Monday, the NYPD and sources said.
Ebony Butts, 42, was arrested after pushing the victims, ages 28 and 27, off the northbound F platform at the Delancey Street/Essex Street station on the Lower East Side just after 2:15 a.m., according to cops.
The women had been waiting for the train when the suspect suddenly approached and allegedly shoved one of them onto the tracks in an unprovoked attack, police said.
A photo shows the suspected subway shover. Robert Mecea
Officials arrest the suspect at the scene. Robert Mecea
As the other tourist scrambled to help the woman back up onto the platform, Butts then allegedly shoved the second victim as well, cops added.
Bystanders rushed to help and pulled the two women safely back onto the platform, police said.
No train was incoming at the time of the incident.
One of the victims was spotted being taken out of the station in a wheelchair, while the other had to be helped up the stairs by first responders, photos taken by The Post show.
The women, who law enforcement sources said were on vacation from Mexico, were taken to Bellevue Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
Police and EMS assist one of two women who were pushed onto the subway tracks. Robert Mecea
Officers already assigned to patrol the station quickly took the barefoot female perp into custody and hauled her away in cuffs.
Butts has since been charged with reckless endangerment and assault.
It wasn’t immediately clear why the suspect, who did not appear to know the two women, targeted the victims.
A woman is assisted after the shove. Robert Mecea
Sources described Butts, who was taken to Bellevue Hospital for an evaluation, as an emotionally disturbed person.
She has at least nine prior arrests to her name dating back to 1999, records show.
The most recent arrest on her rap sheet was another unprovoked attack where she punched a random 38-year-old woman in the face in Brooklyn in 2016.
MTA boss Janno Lieber, during an unrelated press conference later Monday, stressed the need to boost state funding to help clear the subway system of mentally ill people.
“Listen, we have made getting the seriously mentally ill people out of the subway, a huge priority, in addition to everything that’s being done at the state and the city level,” Lieber said during an unrelated press conference.
“We’re running a special program we call SCOUT, which puts three MTA police officers with a clinician to find the most seriously mentally ill people and to get them into treatment voluntarily, most of the time, but involuntarily if necessary, so we’re gonna keep pushing the governor has given us extra money to expand that program.”
— Additional reporting by Aneeta Bhole
Source (Archive)
