Cops bust alleged subway break puller, investigating if he’s serial saboteur
Police nabbed an alleged subway brake puller late Thursday — and are investigating if he’s the suspect responsible for causing more than 700 commute-crushing delays since February alone, police said.
Brooklyn resident Isaiah Thompson, 23, was arrested just before midnight Thursday at his Bedford-Stuyvesant home for allegedly pulling a subway brake on a northbound No. 2 near 14th street in Manhattan on Tuesday.
Earlier on Thursday, cops put out a picture of a suspect they said early Friday was Thompson.
He was hit with reckless-endangerment and criminal-trespass charges, cops said. He was being held by cops early Friday and awaiting arraignment.
He was also charged for a May 16 incident in which he rode on the back of a subway car and exposed himself, authorities said.
In the image released by cops on Thursday, the alleged break puller is seen casually hanging out on the back of a subway car wearing a Yankees cap and a Nike shirt with the phrase “SWAG DON’T COME CHEAP” emblazoned across it.
The suspect, who police say is Thompson, allegedly climbed onto the back of the northbound No. 2 train at around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at the 14th Street station near Seventh Avenue — then rode the rails for several stops before pulling the emergency brake and fleeing, cops said early Thursday.
Police are now investing if Thompson has pulled the brakes on about 40 trains — mostly on the 2/5 line in Brooklyn — and MTA officials say the antics have impacted tens of thousands of commuters since February.
A source told the news site Jalopnik that the dozens of break pulls have lead to some 750 delays and cancellations, as multiple trains wind up being affected.
