A 27-year-old Colombian woman on a 'dream' vacation to New York City was smashed in the head with a glass bottle on the subway on Monday, in another random attack.
The woman was traveling alone through the 5th Avenue/53rd Street subway station, by the Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, when she was attacked at 7:45pm.
'When one comes from another country, New York is like a dream to go visit, have your vacation here,' said the woman, who was on her third trip to the city.
'But at this time it's an unsafe place to walk, and when you're a woman and alone in the streets it's extremely vulnerable.'
A young Colombian woman, pictured speaking to CBS with her back to the camera, was attacked on Monday evening while travelling through midtown Manhattan on the subway
The woman was riding on the Queens-bound E train, alone, in the early evening when she was attacked by a stranger who began poking her in the face
She said a man began poking her face, and she tried to get away.
'I don't understand English, so I don't understand what he was saying to me,' she told CBS Local.
'But, he screamed really loud and he was telling me a lot of things and I was frozen.'
She said she tried to escape, but the train was travelling between stations so she was trapped.
'He hit me with something in the head and then I put my hand on my head,' she said.
'Blood started running down. I was so afraid.'
He fled the train car and it was unclear if he escaped at the next station.
She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
'What scared me the most is that you get off the train and there's no one to help,' she said.
The Colombian tourist, suffering from a deep cut in her head, got off the train at 5th Avenue/53rd Street, and found there was no one to help her. She said she felt extremely vulnerable and scared
The NYPD says felony assaults on the subway are at the highest level in at least 21 years.
In response, Mayor Bill de Blasio has deployed hundreds of additional officers underground.
An additional 500 officers were deployed to the system in February after a homeless man was accused of stabbing four people in the subway.
Multiple people have been pushed onto the tracks or randomly attacked.
The Transport Workers Union say that the additional police reinforcements are not making a difference.
'He may say on paper he has committed a certain amount of resources, but if it's not having the desired effect then maybe they need more or they need to look at how they are being deployed,' said Eric
