A veteran subway operator said she witnessed a homeless man openly “defecating” on a No. 2 train Monday — a sign the homeless have “taken over” the subway system during the coronavirus pandemic.
Angelina Malave, 46, who missed a month of work after catching the virus, said the sight of the man — kicked back on a subway bench with his legs raised in the air over his head so his full rear end was in view — was “one of the worst things I’ve seen in my 18 years as a train operator.”
“He was definitely defecating. I was shaken and upset,” she said.
Malave said she snapped a photo of the distressing scene, which later circulated on Twitter and on worker Facebook groups, at the Flatbush Avenue 2 train terminal around 10 a.m.
Cops were called to the scene shortly afterward, she said.
The 5-foot-tall train operator said she’s too scared to confront homeless offenders on the rails. At 3 a.m., when she starts her shift, all 10 train cars are occupied by vagrants, she said.
Having returned to work just last week after recovering from the virus, Malave admitted she fears exposure to the homeless population setting up camp on her trains.
“What scares me the most is that I had it, but I don’t know if I can get it again,” she explained. “Now I have to deal with COVID and who knows what else this guy is carrying? I don’t feel safe — it’s unfair.
“Coming back to this scene after a month is so upsetting. After all my years with MTA, this is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. It’s crazy,”
Interim NYC Transit President Sarah Feinberg said the agency was boosting its response amid the pandemic by increasing the number of cleaners in train cars, adding more police and hiring private contractors to help alert authorities to homelessness.
But Feinberg called on City Hall to take action, too, saying, “Our city must do better than this.”
The city polices the system and is legally obligated to provide housing to unsheltered New Yorkers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio last week denied the homeless situation was “out of control” and argued the city does not “have the magical ability” to force people off the rails and into shelters.
But late Monday, City Hall announced it would call on the MTA to close certain end-of-the-line stations overnight to help with outreach.