Sadistic kicks
A STEAMED straphanger kicked a 28-year-old pregnant woman in the stomach — twice — on Thursday as the two argued in a packed lower Manhattan subway train, officials said.
Natasha Rodney, who is more than eight months pregnant, was clutching a pole inside the crowded Bronx-bound No. 4 train when Michael Lee, 40, boarded at the Bowling Green station and bumped into her sometime after 8 a.m., witnesses told police.
Rodney, of Staten Island, pushed Lee, also of Staten Island, and knocked him to the floor, police said.
Enraged, Lee immediately jumped to his feet and kicked the woman twice in the stomach, officials said.
Medics took Rodney, who was complaining of stomach pains from the assault, to Lower Manhattan Hospital. Both Rodney and her baby were later given clean bills of health, police sources said.
“How do you kick a pregnant person? She’s due this month,” Rodney’s mom, Carol Rodney, told the Daily News. “I'm shaking. Oh, my God.”
Rodney, who lives in Clifton and works for a real estate company, is expecting a boy, her mother told the Daily News.
“It’s her first child,” Carol Rodney said. “They had just went shopping for baby items at Babies ‘R’ Us . . . . I bought her $500 worth of stuff, and then I ordered more baby stuff.”
Her daughter is eager to become a mom, and the experience on the subway was horrifying, Carol Rodney said.
The baby is due March 27, and appears to be stable, though doctors are keeping Rodney under observation, her mom said.
“She’s pregnant. You can see her stomach. Is he insane? I don’t care what argument they had,” Carol Rodney said. “What if the baby is damaged? What if, God forbid?”
The soon-to-be grandmother added, “You’re preparing for a baby for nine months, and you’re in your ninth month, and this is gonna happen?”
Cops took Lee to the Transit District 2 station house at the Canal St. subway stop, where they charged him with felony assault, misdemeanor assault and felony reckless endangerment.
He was slated for arraignment Friday morning in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Less than an hour before the attack, Lee appeared to be in better spirits on his Facebook page, when he posted a viral video of a young girl giving money to a street musician and commented: “Damnimpressive.”
He has also shared several posts about his commute from Staten Island to Manhattan, including a frustrated March 3 status update about a late train at the Staten Island Railway station in Tottenville.
“Mta you blow,” he wrote at 8:49 a.m. “#fail #whereismytrain.”