New York City subway driver beats commuter on way home from work

A Bronx man’s drive home landed him in the hospital when a deranged straphanger slammed him in the face.

Eric Martinez, 40, said he was on a Line 6 train home from his finance job in Lower Manhattan Friday night and got a seat at the end of the car. He was listening to music when he saw a man nearby.

“Out of nowhere I hear ‘Move!’ he said. “I kept doing my thing. I hear it again. ‘Move!'”

Martinez said he felt the man look at him and then saw a fist come his way.

“It happened so quickly. He hit me twice,” Martinez said. “Then he pulled away for a second. I grabbed my stuff and headed to the nearest car.”

He was bleeding profusely and fellow passengers came to his aid. When the train stopped at Hunts Point Avenue, the passengers stopped NYPD officers at the station.

Martinez was able to point to his attacker, who was arrested.

Martinez said he went to Montefiore Medical Center and received seven stitches near his eyebrow.

He said he’s never had a problem on the subway and is used to “people yelling or talking loudly.”

“I watch the news every day. Something new is happening,” he said. “I just have to be more vigilant, I think.”

The NYPD identified the alleged attacker as Leonard Thompson, 36, who is homeless. He was charged with assault. Court information was not immediately available.

Thompson had eight prior arrests, including an August 2021 robbery arrest that sources and public records say is due to go to trial in January.