REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

'Our city needs major help': Mother of five brutally assaulted on NYC subway slams Mayor Eric Adams

'I remember hearing that they would have cops posted on platforms. Mayor Adams said especially in the subway,' Elizabeth Gomes says
PUBLISHED SEP 28, 2022
NYC subway attack victim Elizabeth Gomes has slammed Mayor Eric Adams after the incident left her scarred, mentally and physically (AndrewPollackFL/Twitter; ABC7NY/YouTube; Scott Olson/Getty Images)
NYC subway attack victim Elizabeth Gomes has slammed Mayor Eric Adams after the incident left her scarred, mentally and physically (AndrewPollackFL/Twitter; ABC7NY/YouTube; Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A mother-of-five has issued a desperate plea to Mayor Eric Adams after she was brutally assaulted by a homeless man at a Queens subway station recently.

Elizabeth Gomes, a JFK Airport security guard, was on her way to work early Tuesday, September 20, at the Howard Beach subway station when she was attacked by the vagrant, later identified by police as ex-convict Waheed Foster, who killed his grandmother in 2014 and was still on parole for a 2010 assault at the time of the attack. Gomes, whose eyes were swollen shut from the horrific assault, declared, "Our city needs major help." 

ALSO READ

Chilling moment thug stabs a stranger in the stomach in unprovoked attack in Manhattan

Woman slashed in the face by armed thugs at NYC subway station as transit-related crime rises

“We’re going through a lot here,’’ Gomes, 33, told the New York Post. “I remember hearing that they would have cops posted on platforms, riding the trains, cops down in a subway. Mayor Adams said especially in the subway,’’ she said, adding, “The mayor said we would have much more cops in the subway and the cops specifically would be patrolling the subways because that’s where the worst of the crimes we are having. Especially at places like Howard Beach station."

“There was no one. Why no protection there?” she asked, referring to her September 20 assault. “Obviously, the government or nobody is doing anything for us. When we’re out there, we’re by ourselves, we’re fighting these battles by ourselves, and what they do, they go try to help other countries that have nothing to do with what we’re going through in our own place.”



 

When asked who she was referring to by "they," Gomes replied, "The mayor, the governor." "Like Eric Adams, our mayor, going to Puerto Rico,’’ she said, insisting that it was the Big Apple that needed "major help" because of what it's "going through." She and her husband, Clement Tucker, told the outlet how she wandered around the station for nearly 20 minutes looking for help following the attack. They said the MTA worker who was supposed to be in the subway booth at the time was on a bathroom break. An MTA official stated that both the MTA and Port Authority man the booth. “The booth agent on the New York City Transit half of the booth at Howard Beach was on what we call a ‘comfort break’ from 5:10 a.m. to 5:19 a.m.,” the official told the Post.



 

Gomes said she was "very surprised" by the lack of security, including law enforcement. “They’re normally there. There’s always some sort of protection at Howard Beach station," she said. "I’m used to seeing Port Authority people there. I’m used to seeing, yes, [Port Authority cops] is there." Her embattled husband added, “There was no security in the booth. There were no cops. The person who should have been in the booth was in the bathroom. They came out 20 minutes after she was attacked. She was walking around, and there was no one there to help her." He added, “Look at my wife’s eyes! She can’t see nothing [sic] out of her eyes.” He said she could lose sight in her right eye and has to undergo more surgery on it.

TOP STORIES

Florida on red alert as Hurricane Ian goes Category 2 overnight, 300k people ordered to evacuate

Does Camila Cabello have a crush on Harry Styles? Here's what motivated 'The Voice' coach to audition for 'X Factor'

“I’m scared to even leave my house," a tearful Gomes said. “I don’t even want to take the train. You know, I love my job so much, and part of me, like, doesn’t want to go back because I’m scared. My life has changed. Everything changed,”  the distraught mum -- whose kids are reportedly aged 13, 12, 9, 8, and 3 -- added. The 33-year-old mother, who had been working at the Queens airport for about 10 years, recalled how she was assaulted around 5.15 am on a fateful morning, with her attacker ranting about Satan. Authorities said Foster was previously convicted of beating his 82-year-old grandmother to death when he was 14, as well as stabbing his 21-year-old sister with a screwdriver.

RELATED TOPICS NEW YORK NEWS
POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW