After being presumed “dead” after being robbed with a hammer while entering a station in Queens a month ago, the scientist Nina Rothschild (58) is afraid to use the chaotic New York Subway again, where crime has skyrocketed 75%.
The attack happened the night of 24 February around : 00 pm, when the scientist from the NYC Department of Health he was leaving work for home closing a long day related to COVID. Three days later, William Blount (57) was arrested as a suspect and charged with attempted murder, robbery and assault, but pleaded “not guilty”.
The assault was recorded by security cameras: caution is recommended when observing the dramatic images. Denise Alston (57) was also arrested and charged with using Rothschild’s credit card hours later. that it was stolen entering the Queens Plaza station in Long Island City.
The police reported that Rothschild was beaten up to times. She suffered a skull fracture and lacerations to her head. Miraculously, he survived and now spoke exclusively with NBC News.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, I remember basically everything, from start to finish… I want my life back!”
Nina Rothschild, robbery victim violent in the NYC Subway
“Fortunately or unfortunately, I remember basically everything, from start to finish,” Rothschild said. “I remember that I started to go down the stairs of the Metro and I felt this blow to the head, which I initially thought was a baseball bat”.
“I was shouting ‘stop, stop, stop’, which of course was totally and utterly useless,” he added. After kicking her and hitting her from behind with a stick, the attacker pulled a hammer from her, with which he hit her on the head. He then grabbed her bag and left.
Her skull was fractured and her brain was bleeding, but Rothschild was conscious and fighting for her life. “I started yelling ‘help, help, help, help’! And luckily, two NYPD officers came on board who, I believe, were on the lower platform by the trains.”
she Now she describes the police’s quick response as “nothing short of miraculous, because otherwise I don’t know how long she could have been there”. Rothschild says she does not think she is experiencing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, although she describes times when she feels anxious and nervous.
At first she thought she would never walk again, but after two weeks of hospital rehabilitation recovered. “When physical therapists and occupational therapists asked me ‘what are your goals?’ I said ‘well, I want my life back!
Rothschild says she is “too grateful” for his survival and excellent medical care to be angry about his attacker. But she is shocked by the senselessness and cruelty of the attack she endured.
Out of the hospital now, Rothschild says he won’t be riding the Metro, at least any time soon. She says that she is unsteady on her feet and that she is just too scared. “Riding the Metro system right now feels pretty dangerous,” she said. Her co-workers at the Department of Health started a fund for her, which she is using to pay for rides in Ubers.
She also commented that she is in favor of a reform of the laws, measures that many consider necessary to reverse lawlessness and impunity in New York. “It doesn’t matter if they’re rich or white or well connected. If he is charged with a violent crime… I would like to see him jailed until his trial date,” he said.
Blount is in jail awaiting his next court date on 11 of April. At her arraignment on March 24, her attorney said that he was not the person who attacked Rothschild. Police sources say that the accused was identified in several surveillance cameras with the same clothes after the attempted murder.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department commented that officers from the station 75 were in a position to assist Rothschild due to Mayor Eric Adams’ recently implemented “visibility patrols” at Metro stations designed to address a persistent increase in of crime.
The main crimes in public transit increased approximately 108% so far this year in comparison 2021, according to NYPD data.