NEW YORK—The man facing an assault charge in connection with an attack on a 78-year-old homeless woman on a New York City subway claims she threatened him with a knife.
Gomez, of Yonkers, New York, had been arrested Saturday in connection with the March 10 encounter, which was caught on video.
One video was posted to social media by Hakeem Carew and circulated to Twitter by a user named Rello. That video alone was viewed nearly 9 million times at the time of publication.
The footage showed Gomez assaulting the woman, while she was sitting on the subway around 3 a.m. on March 10, the New York Police Department (NYPD) said.
Gomez punched and kicked the 78-year-old woman, who got treated for cuts, bleeding, and swelling at a subway station by medics who responded to the scene, but she declined to go to a hospital.
Twitter user Rello, who posted the footage, was asked if he recorded the video, but he said that he was not there.
“For everybody asking me if this is my video. No, and if I was there it was not going down like that. He was not getting away. New York City has to get better with ’minding our own business.' See something say something goes for everything,” he said.
“I only screen recorded the video to help catch this guy. You never put hands on any woman. Especially an older woman,” he added. “And any real New Yorker would’ve done anything but record this. These were obviously kids on the train with no real sense but to say ‘Ooos’ & ’Ahhs.'”
Shouts can be heard in the background but no riders came to the woman’s defense. At least two people filmed the assault.
As the train pulled into a station, the man yelled something at the elderly victim before turning around and looking at one of the people filming.
“WorldStar that, my [expletive],” he said, directing the person to upload the footage online.
The person filming continued standing still and recording instead of going to the woman and helping. She was seen holding a hand to her head and was in obvious pain.
Officers were finally notified when the train arrived at the next stop when someone who witnessed the assault got off the train and told an officer at the station.