Man, 68, in critical condition after he’s punched on subway

A 68-year-old man punched in the face by a stranger on a Tribeca subway train, leaving him in critical condition, was the latest victim of anti-Asian hate, a good Samaritan who helped the victim told the Daily News.

Police arrested a suspect, Marc Mathieu, 36, of the Bronx, on assault charges Sunday. He was not immediately charged with a hate crime; the investigation was continuing, cops said.

The victim was minding his business riding an uptown No. 1 train when the unhinged assailant, sporting a fedora, black leather jacket, pink hoodie and an elaborate gold necklace, boarded the train about 2:40 p.m. Friday, sources said.

“You motherf—-ing Asian,” the snazzily dressed man yelled, according to witness George Okrepkie.

Without warning, the 6-foot-2 attacker walloped the victim in the face leaving him covered in blood that dripped down his jacket. The attacker threw what appeared to be a balled-up newspaper before punching the victim, Okrepkie said.

“I was in a state of shock,” said Okrepkie, 55, the CEO of AX Trading, who happened to be sitting across from the victim in the nearly empty subway car. “It’s an incredibly disgusting attack on an Asian-American.”

“I tried to go after the assailant but he took off,” Okrepkie said. “I went back to the elderly gentleman, took off my scarf and wrapped it around him, waiting for the EMT and NYPD to show up.”

Medics rushed the victim to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Lower Manhattan, where he was in critical but stable condition, police said.

Family members told NBC New York he is Sri Lankan.

“I took photos of the incident to show that crimes keep happening in NYC subways week after week,” Okrepkie said. “I just had lunch with a friend of mine, who is Asian-American, and it’s brutal to see the rise in crimes against Asian-Americans.”

The assailant fled the train but not before surveillance cameras captured him walking through the station looking at his cell phone.

Cops released images of the suspect Sunday and asked the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down. Police found Mathieu (inset) and arrested him as he rode a Manhattan-bound Staten Island Ferry, cops said.

Okrepkie says he will be back on the train Monday. “If I saw this happen again, I would do the right thing and help again,” he said.

The attack comes as violence has picked up in the subway, despite a roughly 75% drop in ridership since the pandemic, and all while crimes and attacks against Asian-Americans have increased as well.

Noel Quintana, a Filipino-American, was slashed across the face in an unprovoked attack on an L train while on his way to work on Feb. 3. Quintana, who has stitch marks from one side of his face to the other, has since spoken up and petitioned against the disturbing trend of Asian-American hate crimes.

On Friday, a man slashed a victim in the face on a Bronx train after getting in an argument. The assailant pulled out a box cutter as the train pulled into the Cypress Ave. station around 9:30 p.m. and sliced him above the lip, cops said.

Earlier Friday, a 37-year-old man was stabbed in the arm and the leg in an unprovoked attack onboard a Brooklyn No. 4 train rumbling into the Nevins St. station around 12:10 a.m., cops said.

Five hundred additional police officers were deployed in February into the transit system to deal with the alarming amount of attacks.