An NYPD transit cop was assaulted on the job Tuesday on the first full day officers patrolled some of the city’s subway stations alone, police said.
The officer was working solo at the Pennsylvania Avenue station in Brooklyn when he was attacked at about 6:45 p.m. by a 24-year-old suspect who has a history of run-ins with cops, authorities said.
The incident unfolded when the officer spotted the suspect, identified as Alex Eremin, smoking a cigarette on the southbound platform, the NYPD said.
After telling Eremin to put the cigarette out, the suspect threw himself down the platform staircase, according to the NYPD.
The officer went to offer the suspect some help, but he allegedly grabbed the officer and tried to drag him down the rest of the staircase, police said. During the struggle, Eremin allegedly made several attempts to grab the officer’s gun.
After several minutes, Eremin was subdued and taken into custody. He was hit with several charges, including assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
The officer was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in stable condition.
The NYPD said Eremin has a history of arrests connected to offensive behavior toward police.
In February, he was accused of spitting in an officer’s left eye while in an ambulance, police said and charged with obstruction of governmental administration.
And on May 11, he was accused of assaulting a police officer when he allegedly lunged at the officer and struck him with a closed fist several times behind the left shoulder, police said. He was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest, as well as lesser charges.
On the same day, he was also charged in connection to a domestic incident, in which he was charged with third-degree assault, authorities said.
The man was given non-monetary release on both arrests on May 16 with a temporary order of protection issued on the domestic incident, according to law enforcement sources.
The start of solo subway patrols had been announced earlier Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams, who defended the plan and noted it would only cover certain stations depending on the need.
“For many years we had a version of what was called single patrol — I did it as a police officer,” Hizzoner said at an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn. “I wouldn’t have anyone do a job that I wouldn’t do.”
But following Tuesday night’s incident, Adams appeared already set to modify the move, according to a spokesperson for the Police Benevolent Association.
“PBA President Pat Lynch and Mayor Adams have spoken regarding this evening’s assault on a Transit police officer performing solo patrol,” the spokesperson told The Post.
“The mayor indicated that the deployment plan will be modified so that there are two police officers on every train patrol.”
A City Hall spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday morning.