Christmas horror as elderly man reliving childhood on a festive Nostalgia Train is pushed onto tracks

A 72-year-old man captured the horrific moment he was pushed onto the New York City subway tracks with his own cell phone.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, had just participated in the MTA’s annual Holiday Nostalgia Riders, which allows passengers to take subway trips in vintage 1930s rail cars.

While waiting for the Northbound F train at the 34th Street Herald Square station around noon on Sunday, an unknown man then pushed him onto the tracks before fleeing.

The victim miraculously survived and could be heard in the heartbreaking video shouting “help me, help me” as a train approached the station.

A group of Good Samaritans standing nearby heard his screams and brought him to safety.

He suffered lacerations to the back of his head and was transported to Bellevue Hospital.

The victim said NewsNation he had let his guard down after attending the event.

“At that time I was a ten-year-old boy coming off the old train, so my radar was off,” the victim said from his hospital bed.

The man explained that he was “caught off guard” during the attack.

“I was crushed by a person who was clearly mentally disturbed,” he said.

He then became emotional as he described how “the guardian angels on the platform jumped down, took me out and took care of me.”

The victim, who was planning to travel to Europe with his family over the Christmas holidays, will now undergo spinal surgery as he needs screws in his back to stabilize his vertebrae.

He also shared the pain he has experienced since the attack, and his loss of mobility.

‘I can’t really move. I can’t really walk. “I sat up for the first time today,” he told the news station.

On Monday, less than 24 hours after the latest near-fatal attack, Mayor Adams walked through the subway system accompanied by homeless advocates.

“We want to be proactive and get them off the streets before they commit a random act of violence,” Adams said.

Police had released a photo of the suspect, but an NYPD spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Friday that no one had been caught at the time.

He confirmed that the man pushed the victim from behind, causing him to fall to the roadbed as a train approached.

He described it as an “unprovoked” attack.

A scruffy, bearded suspect was caught on CCTV jumping the turnstile before the horrific incident.

The images showed him wearing sunglasses that resembled ski goggles, a mauve-colored pom-pom hat and a dark puffy coat.

He also had a dark backpack and a light-colored blanket.

The NYPD Crime Stoppers is asking for the public’s help in locating the perpetrator.

In March, an unidentified man died after being pushed onto the tracks as a train approached, in what police described as an unprovoked attack..

The fatal incident occurred around 6:45 p.m. at the 125th Street station on Lexington Avenue in East Harlem.

A 45-year-old man was taken into custody and later described as an emotionally disturbed person.

The attack came just weeks after Governor Kathy Hochul pledged to deploy the National Guard and State Police in a crime-ridden network

In August, two female tourists, ages 27 and 28, coming to New York City from Mexico were pushed onto the tracks on the Lower Eastside. The New York Post reports this.

The women were on the northbound F platform at Delancey and Essex streets around 2 a.m. when the unhinged suspect, later identified as Ebony Butts, 42, allegedly pushed them to the road.

Bystanders sprang into action to help both women, who were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

In 2023, seventeen people were pushed onto the metro tracks. By 2024, this number will increase to 24, according to NYPD data.

Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visit crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or download the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app.

They can also text 274637 (CRIMES) and then enter TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).