President Utano Voices Anger After 'Disgusting' Assault

MARCH 29 -- A New York City Transit Conductor was spat upon and menaced for telling a rider not to smoke on a train early this morning. The incident followed several others this month: one conductor was punched in the face, another was spat upon and yet another was struck in the head with a bottle.
 
“This is a disgusting, despicable, really outrageous thing that’s happening to our conductors,” Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano told 1010 WINS. “They are getting spit on. They are getting bottles thrown at them. No other group of workers in New York City has to deal with this stuff.” He called for a greater police presence in stations and also for additional cameras.
 
In today's incident, after receiving a report of an unruly customer smoking on the train, the No. 6 Train Conductor made an announcement at approximately 5:15 a.m. requesting the rider extinguish the cigarette or get off. The man became belligerent and began banging on her cab door, cursing and yelling.

When the train doors opened at Bleecker Street. the man came to the Conductor’s window and spat on the her face. After she closed the window, he continued spitting on the window and wrote "BITCH" on the window with his saliva.
 
The conductor requested medical attention and evaluation, and the train was taken out of service, Eric Loegel, Local 100 Vice President of Rapid Transit Operations, said. Police described the attacker as as African American, approximately 5 foot 9 inches tall, dressed in a lime green and hunter green sweater and khaki pants with a salt-and-pepper Mohawk hairstyle.