What you should know
- A medical student and electric cellist with the stage name Eyeglasses was randomly attacked while performing at the Herald Square subway station.
- The incident occurred at 5:50 pm on Tuesday, February 13 and was captured on video.
- Police say they are looking for the woman wearing a mustard-colored jacket, a black beanie and a red scarf who attacked him.
NEW YORK — Iain Forrest was passionately performing for late-night commuters at the Herald Square subway station when a woman approached him from behind and hit him in the back of the head with her water bottle.
Forrest, a medical student and electric cellist with the stage name Eyeglasses, says the random attack occurred at exactly 5:50 p.m. on February 13 and was all caught on video. His attacker appeared to be leaning against a pillar at the 34th Street station while he was looking at his phone when she suddenly put the device in his bag, walked up behind Forrest, grabbed his metal water bottle, and grabbed it. hit hard.
“In the middle of the performance I felt a terrible collision in the back of my head,” Forrest recalled.
The “Music Under New York” member said he didn’t know what had caused him “a lot of pain” and was disoriented.
Police say they are looking for the woman who attacked him, dressed in a mustard-colored jacket, a black beanie and a red scarf.
“No one in the transportation system, including musicians, should be subjected to violence, and when the NYPD catches up with the person who committed this senseless attack, they will be held accountable,” the MTA reacted in a statement.
Tuesday’s incident was the second time in less than a year that Forrest says he has been attacked as a subway artist. The first was in Times Square where someone tried to steal his instrument.
“I don’t think I can do this anymore,” he announced on his Instagram two days later. “I will indefinitely suspend performances on the subway.”
While the MTA doesn’t track specific numbers of assaults on musicians in subway stations, Forrest says he believes tracking those numbers and diverting resources can help prevent future attacks.
“If you talk to any of these musicians, they will tell you that something similar happened to them. They were attacked. They were attacked and harassed,” Forrest said.
The musician has been entertaining locals and tourists in subway stations for almost a decade. He also performed the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden last December. The longevity of his stay underground is now being questioned.
“I ask myself: is it worth it? Is my life worth it? This could have been so much worse,” she said.
Her attacker quickly fled the station to Macy’s after the hit, Forrest said, and NYPD officers were unable to find her. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.
2024-02-16 02:07:47
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