A Brooklyn man accused of punching a pregnant woman in the face while she rode a J train in Jamaica last month was arraigned Saturday in Queens Criminal Court.
Christopher Benitez, 33, of Throop Ave. in Williamsburg, was charged with assault and harassment for the unprovoked attack on a 37-year-old woman, according to authorities.
The victim was on the J train at the Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer station around 5:50 p.m. on Feb. 25 when Benitez allegedly approached her and punched her in the face. He then fled the train on foot, police said.
The victim, who was seven months pregnant, suffered a laceration, bruises and pain to the right eye as a result of the assault but was not hospitalized.
Benitez, a recidivist with 16 prior arrests for assault, criminal mischief, and public intoxication, was taken into custody at a relative’s home in Brooklyn last Friday morning, brought back to Queens and booked at the Transit District 20 headquarters at the Briarwood subway station that afternoon.
A detective from the Queens Transit Squad who obtained and reviewed surveillance video from the station where the attack occurred created still images and showed the images to Benitez, who admitted that it was him, according to the criminal complaint.
“I hit the lady,” Benitez told the detective. “She sat right in front of me and gave me a f–king attitude, bro.”
Benitez was arraigned on Saturday afternoon and the judge set bail at $15,000.
A version of this story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site QNS
