Ferguson’s tweets about the incident on the New York City subway sent shockwaves across social media. She described how the attacker approached her before hitting her.
It was a baffling and shocking experience for the journalist who never expected such discrimination, but it was also an intuitive response by many who saw her tweets. With a huge influx of messages asking about her well-being, Jane described the incident as “disorienting and hurtful,” but the nature of the attack is not the main focus of this piece. Instead, we will look at what this means for all of us who routinely use public transportation.
“At 6.30pm today I was violently assaulted on the NYC subway. A man walked up to me in a busy rush-hour car and punched me, hard, on the side of the face. I kneeled down on the floor in shock, and steadied myself, unsure what had just happened, my ear ringing and face on fire,” Ferguson tweeted Monday night.
“The reason I’m tweeting this is, as I knelt on the floor, I felt an arm around my shoulder and a woman pulled me away. The young woman took me off the car at the next stop and to the police there at grand central station before giving me a hug and making sure I got home ok,” she continued before explaining she doesn’t know the person who came to her aid.
“Her name is Samantha. I didn’t catch any other information as I was in shock and am sorry about that,” Ferguson wrote. “So Samantha who was on the number 4 express train between 59th st and grand central today at rush hour – thank you. New Yorkers are pretty great.”
The reaction of Jane Ferguson is not unusual. Transportation systems, particularly commuter trains and subways, are confined spaces that carry the risk of potential criminal activity, with little escape from unwanted attention. A noteworthy study found that more than one million criminal incidents occurred on the New York City subway between 2005 and 2013, indicating that we must take note of precautions that protect us.
One effective way to reduce subway crime is to enhance surveillance of transit lines. In the wake of Ferguson’s attack, there have been calls to protect passengers better, particularly women traveling alone.
Unfortunately, New York City’s subway system seems to lack the resources and tools necessary to develop crime prevention plans, ranging from CCTV installations to equipping trains with emergency dispatch tools. Solving this problem requires funding, tools, and resources for law enforcement, prompting broader discourse and communication.