A transit worker testified in court Wednesday against the man accused of assaulting her back in December in a subway station.
Police say the incident occurred inside the Coney Island subway station when Tanya McCray was coming out of the crew room and Jean-Francois Coste approached her. The Transit Workers Union says McCray closed the door behind her so Coste wouldn't walk in, leading him to start punching her.
"It was hurtful to see him again,” said McCray.
Court documents revealed the assault left her with a bruised faced and swelled torso.
"We want accountability, we want accountability,” added Worker’s Transit Union Local 100 member Canella Gomez. "It's important that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It's not cool to assault transit workers."
Gomez acknowledged the dangers transit workers face on the job, calling it an "open season" on his colleagues, and demanded the justice system prosecute anyone who assaults a transit worker.
"We need the police to be by the conductor's position,” said Gomez. “We don't need them by the fare-box policing poverty, we don't need them at the end of the platform, we need them by the conductor's position, the train-operator's position."
McCray told News 12 she doesn’t know when she’ll return to work. Both she and Coste will be back in court on April 11.