The great prison break: Paroled in January

Crook on parole brutally beats woman on NYC subway train after she tried to prevent sleeping rider from being robbed, police say

'He whaled on me like a caged animal'

Image source: New York City Police Department

 DAVE URBANSKI

A man who served three stints in the New York state prison system over the last 15 years — and has been on parole since January — was charged in connection with a brutal attack on a woman on a Brooklyn subway train, police told the New York Daily News.

What are the details?

Police told the paper that the 53-year-old victim was trying to prevent a fellow subway rider from being robbed Sunday morning. 

The victim was riding the Coney Island-bound D train to a photo shoot when she spotted the suspect sitting next to a sleeping man with a full backpack, the Daily News said.

The suspect initially backed off when the victim nudged the snoozing man awake — but then the suspect charged back and knocked her to the floor of the train, the paper said.

'He whaled on me like a caged animal'

The victim told the Daily News she suffered facial cuts, two black eyes, and a fractured finger before the suspect fled at the Union Street stop. She added to the paper that her attacker left her face "absolutely unrecognizable."

"He kicked me from behind," she recounted to the Daily News. "He whaled on me like a caged animal. I rolled under the seat to get away from him. I guess if he had a boot on, I'd have no bones left in my face. The pain was excruciating. I was violently attacked. There was no reason for it."

Who is the suspect?

Laking Bristow, 35, was charged with felony and misdemeanor assault after a subway clerk recognized him from photos released by police, the paper said.

Bristow's arraignment was pending Friday in Brooklyn Criminal Court, the Daily News said.

His times spent in prison were for robbery, grand larceny, and most recently gun possession, the paper said, adding that he was conditionally released on parole in January.

According to a June 2012 police blotter report from amNew York, transit cops arrested Laking Bristow, 27, on a train at the Eighth Avenue subway station at 14th Street around 3:40 a.m. June 27 for taking money from a passenger's pocket. The outlet said Bristow also was charged with weapons possession after two razor blades were found tucked in his socks.