Two on-duty MTA employees were punched by unhinged attackers less than two hours apart in Queens and Brooklyn over the weekend, officials said Monday.
The mayhem began just after 6 a.m. Sunday when a subway snoozer allegedly attacked a train cleaner on board an F train stopped at the Jamaica-179th Street subway station, according to a criminal complaint and law enforcement sources.
Luis Mizhquiri, 38, flew into a rage and punched the 52-year-old worker who sources said had woken him up, the court doc charged.
The blow left the worker with substantial pain in his face and ear, but he refused medical attention at the scene.
Mizhquiri was taken into custody by responding cops and charged with second-degree assault and harassment, according to the complaint.
He was ordered held on $7,500 cash bail or $22,000 bond by Judge Sharifa Nasser-Cuellar during his Monday arraignment.
Mizhquiri was also ordered held behind bars for neglecting to pay a fine connected with a driving while intoxicated arrest from March of 2019, according to prosecutors and online records.
Then around 7:40 a.m., an enraged woman attacked an MTA attendant who allowed a shuttle bus to leave a Brooklyn stop without letting her on board, cops and sources said.
The 49-year-old victim gave the bus driver the OK to proceed from the stop at Broadway and Hooper Street in Williamsburg, prompting Selene Cruz, 32 – who missed the bus – to throw an unknown liquid on him and punch him in the mouth, authorities and sources said.
He too refused medical attention at the scene.
Responding police found and arrested Cruz as they canvassed the area.
She was charged with assault and attempted assault, both in the third degree, and well as second-degree harassment, according to a criminal complaint.
Cruz – who has no prior arrests, according to police – was released on her own recognizance during her arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Prosecutors had pushed for supervised release, the DA’s office said.
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