Veteran transit employee Anthony Nelson took a beating on the job near 4 years in the past. And it’s taken practically that lengthy to see his alleged attacker inch towards a potential trial.
The station cleaner visited a Bronx courtroom once more on Wednesday to see the person prosecutors say pummeled him. He expressed frustration with the tempo of the case and mentioned he feels “sorry” for the person accused of assault.
Nelson suffered a damaged collarbone and nostril within the August 2022 assault after making an attempt to cease a serial transit troublemaker from hassling riders outdoors the No. 6 line’s Pelham Bay Park cease in The Bronx.
“I was trying to do something right,” Nelson mentioned. “My life was altered for doing the right thing.”
The person accused of the assault, Alexander Wright, has beforehand been deemed unfit to face trial. However that would change.
On Wednesday, Bronx Supreme Courtroom Justice Alvin Yearwood ordered Wright — who has at the least 13 prior arrests, together with “some” within the subway, based on the MTA — to endure a psychiatric analysis to find out whether or not he’s match to face trial.
MTA officers have beforehand pushed for Wright to be banned for as much as three years from the authority’s subways, buses, commuter railroads and different amenities. In 2022, Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and chief government, despatched a letter to Bronx District Legal professional Darcel Clark asking {that a} decide difficulty the first-of-its-kind ban upon conviction.
Transit employee Anthony Nelson speaks to reporters earlier than a court docket look for the person charged with battering him practically 4 years in the past outdoors of a Bronx station, Jan. 21, 2026. Credit score: Jose Martinez/THE CITY
“He’s been done wrong, as well,” Nelson mentioned outdoors the Bronx courtroom the place Wright made his newest look. “When is the state going to say, oh, we got to help people and not put Band-Aids on situations.”
The 38-year-old sufferer, who has labored for the transit authority for a decade, was amongst 711 transit staff who had been victims of harassment or assault in 2022, based on MTA knowledge. Whereas general subway crime fell final 12 months to its lowest stage in additional than a decade and a half, a prime official with Transport Staff Union Native 100 mentioned staff stay leery of being attacked whereas on obligation.
“At the end of the day, there’s a lot of assaults that take place that’s not reported,” mentioned Robert Kelley, a vp with TWU Native 100. “We have people that perform lewd acts, people that spit on our members and things of that nature.”
The most recent step within the long-running case in opposition to Wright got here as Nelson arrived in court docket hopeful of getting “answers in concrete” lengthy after an assault whose bodily and psychological fallout continues to maintain him out of labor.
“We’re just running the same race, it’s been going on three years now,” Nelson mentioned. “The same answers for the same thing: How many times do you gotta go through this?”
Yearwood ordered Wright, whose court-appointed legal professional described him as “unstable,” to stay behind bars after the person had beforehand been sprung from jail on $500 bail in September 2024. He then repeatedly skipped court docket dates earlier than being arrested once more in December of that 12 months.
Protection lawyer Claudia Montoya, of The Authorized Assist Society, informed the decide that Wright suffers from “serious mental illness” and {that a} psychiatrist is evaluating his prolonged mental-health historical past.
“I think Mr. Nelson said it best: We want people to get the help they need, I mean, that is the goal that we all have,” Kelley mentioned. “But we certainly want justice to be served to the fullest extent of the law.”
Gaby Celiba, vp of safety at New York Metropolis Transit, stood alongside Nelson and TWU members to say that officers are “frustrated, obviously” with the drawn-out case.
“What Mr. Nelson is looking for and the family is looking for, is for justice to be done, so that he can continue to move forward,” Celiba mentioned.
Nelson mentioned that has been made difficult by the case stretching into its fourth 12 months and having to relive the assault every time he goes to court docket.
However he mentioned he wouldn’t hesitate to step in as soon as extra if he had been to come across bother within the subway system.
“I pray that if something was to happen, that there would be somebody that’s not going to pull out their phone and try to get a recording, but actually step in and rectify the issue or try to help,” Nelson mentioned. “So yes, I absolutely would do it again.”
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