NYC Subway Assaults Up 19% With Many Attacks Coming Against Police Officers

New York City’s subway system has seen a 19% spike in felony assaults so far in 2025, according to data released by the NYPD, the New York Post reported.

Between Jan. 1 and May 25, police reported 255 felony assaults in the transit system, compared to 214 during the same period last year, the New York Post reported. A significant portion of these assaults, 36%, were committed against NYPD officers and MTA workers. That’s an increase from 2019, when 44 out of 154 subway assault victims, or about 29%, were members of law enforcement or transit personnel. Overall, subway assaults have surged 66% since 2019. (RELATED: NYC Council Member Says Subway Violence Is ‘One-In-A-Million’ Event Despite Alleged Attack Occurring Days Earlier)

NYC subway assaults up 19% — with many of the attacks coming against police officers, stats show https://t.co/Abzko1oJCr pic.twitter.com/JgmUBKnMnm

— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) May 31, 2025

Several law enforcement experts have pointed to the rise in mentally ill individuals using the subway system as a contributing factor. Former NYPD detective and John Jay College professor Michael Alcazar cited emotionally disturbed persons, homelessness, and limited prosecutorial detention capabilities as factors driving the trend.

One recent case cited by police involved Sherlock Arana, 37, who was arrested after allegedly pushing a 70-year-old woman to the ground in a Midtown subway station on May 12. Arana, who has been arrested approximately 20 times in the past, pleaded guilty nearly a decade ago to assaulting two women in Queens subways in attacks that prosecutors said were racially motivated. He is currently being held at Rikers Island on $45,000 bail for second-degree assault charges related to the May 12 incident.

Law enforcement sources say Arana’s most recent arrest prior to this year was for a 2023 robbery, though the outcome of that case remains unclear.

While felony assaults are up, overall major transit crime is down by 6% so far in 2025. That decline includes reductions in murders, shootings, robberies, burglaries and grand larcenies.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has credited the decrease in broader crime to increased police presence in the subway system, including two officers assigned to each train overnight and expanded overtime patrols.

A Bronx-based police officer suggested that the rise in subway assaults may also be linked to increased train usage due to the city’s new congestion pricing policy, which went into effect in January. “The trains are more crowded, and you have a lot more unstable people riding them,” the officer said.

Retired officers also said that an increased number of police underground may be leading to more confrontations with passengers, particularly when officers enforce laws related to drinking and other low-level offenses.