Fox News Flash top headlines for August 17
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The suspect accused of attacking a New York City subway worker who was trying to stop him from harassing passengers has 41 prior arrests, a report says.
Alexander Wright is facing assault and harassment charges following the alleged attack on Aug. 11 at the Pelham Bay Park station in the city’s Bronx borough that reportedly left subway cleaner Anthony Nelson, 35, with a broken collarbone and dislocated nose.
"If you look at his history, you’ll throw up,’’ Robert Kelley, vice president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, told the New York Post regarding Wright. "The system has let society down [more than] 40 times.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the New York City Police Department said Nelson was first "approached by an MTA customer that there was a male outside of the station harassing members of the public."
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The Pelham Bay Park station in New York City's Bronx borough, where the assault allegedly happened on Aug. 11. (Google Maps)
"The cleaner exited the station to ascertain a description of the suspected male to police. While the cleaner was observing the male, the male approached the cleaner and punched him about the head," police added. "As the victim attempted to remove the male off of him and flee to safety, the individual threw the cleaner to the ground, causing pain to his right shoulder."
Last year, Fox News Digital reported that Wright, 49, was charged with assault as a hate crime, misdemeanor assault and criminal possession of a controlled substance – a synthetic form of marijuana called K2 – after being accused of attacking an Asian American woman in broad daylight in New York City’s Chinatown area.
WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING IMAGES
A month before that, Wright was charged with assault for allegedly tossing hot coffee onto two traffic agents in Manhattan, and has also been charged with other crimes, including felony criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and petit larceny, police sources told the New York Post.
Wright, whom police say lives in a homeless shelter, is being held in the latest case on $5,000 bail, half of what prosecutors had sought, the newspaper also reported.
Alexander Wright has had frequent run-ins with law enforcement, reports say. (iStock)
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"This man Alexander Wright should not be walking the streets," Nelson’s mother, Lisa, was quoted as saying at a union rally Tuesday in the Bronx. "I hope these politicians and these judges give him the max that he deserves and do not let him walk free."
"I’ve never in 33 years seen my brother like that – broken nose, his right side collarbone is broken," his sister, Nashia, told the New York Post.
