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.
- A woman was arrested for the bottle attack caught on camera and charged with assault, but was released without bail hours later; Now she has been charged.
NEW YORK — A woman has been charged in the attack with a metal water bottle on a Herald Square musician while he was performing for a late-night crowd the day before Valentine’s Day, Manhattan prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Amira Hunter, of Brooklyn, was arrested on an assault charge about two weeks after the bottle attack caught on camera Feb. 13 at the downtown transit center. The Manhattan indictment charges Hunter, 23, with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the attack on cellist Iain Forrest.
Prosecutors allege that Hunter is the woman seen in the video hitting Forrest in the back of the head with her own metal water bottle. The video shows the woman leaning against a pillar at the 34th Street station as she looks at her phone, then puts it in her purse and walks after Forrest. She grabs his metal water bottle and hits it hard, causing swelling and considerable pain, according to court documents and statements made in the court filing.
Hunter allegedly fled after the attack, which Forrest said caused him to consider whether he should leave the job altogether.
“I don’t think I can keep doing this,” he announced on his Instagram two days after the attack. “I will indefinitely suspend performances on the subway.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg condemned the attack.
“Subway musicians bring joy to New York’s bustling subway system and deserve to perform in a safe environment. As alleged, Amira Hunter’s violent and random action left a subway musician in immense pain,” Bragg said. “Anyone who threatens the safety of New Yorkers who use our public transportation will be held accountable. I hope the victim continues to recover from this attack.”
Hunter has been arrested before for petit larceny, causing her to fail to appear in court several times. Information from her attorney was not immediately clear Thursday.
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 at subway stations for almost a decade. He also performed the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden last December.
2024-04-11 22:36:20
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