NEW YORK, NY - A career criminal was held on $250,000 bail after he was arrested on felony charges Saturday related to the attempted rape of a woman on a Times Square subway, authorities say.
Tyriek Martin, a 34-year-old homeless man who has been arrested no less than 70 times, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Saturday, where he was arraigned on charges of first-degree attempted rape, first-degree sexual abuse, and third-degree assault charges. The New York Post said that Judge Robert Rosenthal applied the bail at the request of prosecutors. After his arraignment, he was transferred to the city jail at Rikers Island.
According to law enforcement sources, Martin was inside the northbound W train approaching the 42nd Street Times Square subway station on Thursday just before noon when he approached a female passenger and slammed her head against a pole.
Career criminal, with over 70 arrests, bashes and tries to rape woman on train at the Times Square subway station in latest action in the War on Women being waged by Progressive politicians. https://t.co/u5GgGwtpQv
— BigApplePhoenix (@BigApplePhoenix) February 21, 2025
Martin then threw the victim to the ground, climbed on top of her, and tried to sexually assault her, the sources said.
“She pushed him off of her,” Assistant District Attorney Ellery Harvey told the court, noting that Martin had pulled his pants down to his ankles as he pulled her down by her legs.
“He proceeded to press himself against her from behind, pants still down, and the defendant pushed his lower body up and down on the complainant in a humping motion,” Ellery continued.
The victim began to struggle against Martin and screamed for help as the train pulled into the Times Square station, police sources said. Several nearby construction workers, acting in the capacity of Good Samaritans, intervened and held Martin down until police arrived.
The victim suffered a broken nose in the fracas and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, police and prosecutors said. The attack lasted just over a minute and was captured on surveillance video.
“The defendant has an extensive criminal record outside of this incident’s charged conduct,” authorities said. “He has 34 misdemeanor convictions and nine failures to appear. One of those misdemeanor convictions is for public lewdness in 2017.”
Among Martin’s crimes are arrests for robbery, drug possession, and public lewdness. He was also arrested for randomly assaulting a two-year-old autistic girl in the face with a 20-pound suitcase, authorities said.
Martin’s case will proceed to the grand jury for indictment on February 26.
