A homeless man tried to push a woman onto the subway tracks at a Brooklyn station Thursday night, police sources said.
The 35-year-old straphanger was standing on the platform on the 4 and 5 line in the Borough Hall train station waiting for a northbound train at around 7:15 p.m. when the man – identified as 46-year-old David French – yelled at her to leave, sources said.
She walked away, but French followed her as he continued to shout, according to sources.
He then forcefully shoved her toward the train tracks, sources said.
The quick-thinking woman managed to wrap her hands around a pillar on the platform to avoid getting thrown onto the tracks, according to police sources.
She escaped onto a Manhattan-bound train, then later walked into Transit District 4 in Union Square to file a report.
Officers from Transit District 30 in downtown Brooklyn responded and were able to find French around 8:48 p.m.still inside the Borough Hall station, sources said.
After the woman identified her attacker, French was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment.
French had three prior arrests, all from 1994, on charges of assault, burglary and criminal mischief, sources said. In the assault incident, French allegedly slapped a straphanger on the face and leg while she was sitting on a train.