A second person has been arrested for his alleged role in the harrowing hammer attack on a New York City Department of Health employee as she headed to a Queens subway station one night after work.
Denise Alston, 57, was arrested Friday night after police say she made a $19 purchase with a blue credit card bearing the name of the victim, Nina Rothschild. Police also said other credit cards, store cards and a New York City identification card belonging to Rothschild were found in Alston’s wallet.
Alston, who lives in Keeseville Avenue in St. Albans, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Monday afternoon. A criminal complaint charged her with criminal possession of stolen property, petty theft, identity theft and more. She was ordered back to court on March 3 and faces up to four years in prison if she is convicted.
This second arrest comes after of the capture of William Blount, a 57-year-old man from Manhattan, with a long criminal history, including a jailbreak attempt that left him with two broken ankles, law enforcement authorities say.
man is suspicious attacking the victim with a hammer on the stairs of a Queens subway station.
William Blount’s history includes kidnappings, robberies, and drug crimes in New York City and South Carolina dating back to the early 1980s.
He was sentenced to 20 years for kidnapping, 15 years for burglary, and five years (to run concurrently) for committing a crime of violence with a firearm in a case in which he and his brother broke into a Bojangles in South Carolina in 2000 and kidnapped two employees, causing one to open the safe.
Blount attempted to escape while serving that sentence, South Carolina police said. It occurred during the murder of a guard by other inmates amid a larger breakout plot on September 17, 2000. Blount attempted to join the breakout and jumped from the prison roof, breaking both ankles in the process. . He was caught and charged with conspiracy to escape charges in addition to the other crimes for which he was jailed.
The 57-year-old man’s crimes in New York City date back to 1993, yehe attack on the subway at Long Island City’s Queens Plaza station last Thursday night marks the latest indictment against him. Blount allegedly attacked Nina Rothschild, 57, an investigator with the city’s Department of Health, hitting her from behind multiple times with a hammer to the head before kicking her down the stairs.
The defendant stole her bag before fleeing the scene. Rothschild was hospitalized in critical condition with a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage. Her brother told our sister network News 4 late last week he was doing better after emergency surgery to repair the fracture.
Blount is charged with attempted murder, robbery and assault in that case. Contact information for his legal representation was not immediately known.
Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, called the attack “horrible” in a statement and said the agency’s thoughts were with the woman and her family.
“Nina has worked tirelessly in service to her fellow New Yorkers and is truly a public health hero,” Chokshi said. “The Health Department and I will do everything we can to support her recovery, and we ask all New Yorkers to keep her and her family in mind while respecting her privacy during this difficult time.”
The horrific attack came less than a week after Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul jointly announced a new subway security initiative designed both to mitigate recent spikes in violence on the transit system and intensify the reach of the homeless as the city seeks to encourage a post-COVID uptick in subway use.
Officials shared more details about that plan earlier last week, saying it would target six priority lines to start with: A, E, 1, 2/3 (described as a combined target), N, R and 7, and would include additional lines deployed by police and social service workers.
Thursday’s attack marked one of nearly a dozen in transit recorded since the announcement.
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