A homeless suspect was arrested for the deadly New York City subway slashing of a commuter.
Tommy Bailey, a 43-year-old steamfitter with the Local 638 union for over two decades, was fatally sliced in the neck while commuting home aboard the Canarsie-bound L train at around 8:50 p.m. on Friday, stumbling out onto the platform after the subway rolled into Brooklyn’s Atlantic Station.
The NYPD said the victim had been involved in a dispute with an unidentified man on the train, and Bailey was rushed by medics to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Several days would pass before an arrest was made on Wednesday.
Alvin Charles, a 43-year-old homeless man, was escorted out of the 73rd Precinct Wednesday evening after being charged with the murder of Bailey, a father-of-two whose friends told the N.Y. Daily News was not confrontational and was not known to pick fights.
Charles has three prior arrests for menacing, assault as a hate crime and assault, according to police.
His arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court had not been immediately scheduled as of Wednesday night.
The suspect was photographed by news cameras pursing his lips and grinning while detectives escorted him from the precinct and into the back of a cop car while handcuffed behind his back and ankles.
Bailey’s murder is the sixth killing in the New York City subway system so far this year, FOX 5 NY reported. New York City transit crime surged by 57% in July alone and is up by 42% so far this year.
