Stormin’ mad at City Hall
Beaten weatherman: Guard subways
The Fox News meteorologist who was pummeled by a gang of rowdy teens on a Manhattan subway train slammed City Hall on Monday for failing to protect Big Apple straphangers.
“I want someone to be held responsible,” Adam Klotz said on “Fox & Friends.” “Where is the structural change? Put some cops down there. I want Eric Adams to do something more long term, that this wouldn’t happen to someone else.”
Klotz, 37, was on a No. 1 train coming home from a bar around 1:15 a.m. Sunday when he was allegedly jumped by weed-smoking teenagers — who went after him after he intervened on behalf of a man they were harassing.
“There’s an older gentleman across from me and there’s a group of teens, one of them was lighting a joint. With that lighter, they put it in the guy’s hair and his hair went up like a matchbox,” Klotz recalled on Fox News.
“He’s knocking out flames and I’m like, ‘You can’t do that.’ ”
Klotz said the teens beat him as the other 25 to 30 people in the train car looked on.
“They were trying to knock me out,” he said. “And then once you’re unconscious and you’re getting punched, like there’s no defense. So, I was just doing my absolute best to cover my head so I couldn’t get knocked out. And now my side is black and blue, my knee, I can hardly bend.
We all rely on safe transit
“Sure, I could’ve taken a $75 cab ride to get home,” he added. “But most people can’t do that. I can’t do that every single day. We need these subways. We need a way to get around this city and yet this is what is happening.”
The teens ran off the train at the West 18th Street stop, but were nabbed by cops, and later released to their parents without charges.
They were given juvenile reports — a file for someone under 16 who allegedly commits an act that would constitute an offense if committed by an adult.
However, police said Monday they tracked down the man who was harassed by the teens and are weighing whether to file charges.
“We’re talking to him now to see if there are appropriate charges. They could be issued appearance tickets to appear in Family Court,” NYPD Deputy Chief Kevin Maloney told The Post.
Asked about the attack, Adams defended the city’s efforts.
“Our officers are out there,” he said. “And so we must make sure people feel safe and as I say over and over again, the best way to do that is to have that visible presence of a police officer.”