A Brooklyn man has been charged after he hit a 59-year-old man with a metal pipe on a train in lower Manhattan Saturday night, fracturing his skull and breaking his eye socket, police said.
The two men got into an argument aboard a southbound 2 train, near the Chambers Street station at about 11:15 p.m., cops said. The suspect, identified by police as Geovannie Nieves, then got up from his seat, yelled at the victim and hit him in the face with the pipe, video of the attack shows.
Prior to the incident, Nieves was panhandling on the train, police said. The men were not known to each other and it wasn’t immediately clear what they were arguing about.
An anonymous tip led to police catching Nieves, Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said on Twitter.
Once again, an anonymous Crimestoppers tip led to a successful apprehension & a safer city. This man, wanted for a vicious attack with a pipe on the subway, was taken into custody last night. Commit a crime in NY? We're coming for you. Crimestoppers 800-577-TIPS #YourCityYourCall pic.twitter.com/LmsqibVjA7
— Chief Dermot F. Shea (@NYPDDetectives) July 9, 2018
“This man, wanted for a vicious attack with a pipe on the subway, was taken into custody last night,” he wrote Monday morning.
Nieves, 35, was charged on Monday with felony assault with a weapon, according to police.
The victim was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue in serious, but stable, condition, police said.
