Man arrested for 'punching woman in face when she asked him to stop manspreading'

Derek Smith allegedly punched Sam Saia in the face
NYPD Transit, Twitter
Alexandra Richards20 November 2017

A man has reportedly been arrested in New York after he allegedly punched a woman in the face when she asked him for more room on a subway train.

Derek Smith, 56, from Brooklyn, New York has been charged with assaulting Sam Saia after she allegedly asked him to stop “manspreading” when he sat beside her with his legs apart.

Speaking to CBS News, Miss Saia claimed the assault was so severe that she “felt blood” after she hit her head against the wall.

When asked what she believed had provoked the attack, she said: "I sat down and I existed, and I think this guy had a problem with that. He just started manspreading me extra and pushing me into the wall".

Miss Saia said that she asked Mr Smith to relax. When that failed, she claimed she attempted to ignore him but that it only made the situation worse.

She alleged: "He just started looking at me and said, 'B***h, don't ignore me,' and he started elbowing me. So I looked at him and [he punched me], and I banged my head into the wall. After that, I just felt blood," she said.

Sam Saia posted a picture of her injury on Facebook
Sam Saia/Facebook

Sam Saia posted footage of the incident recorded by another passenger onto her Facebook alongside a post which read: “I wanted to raise awareness for fellow Brooklyn gals about some lowlife who punched me in the face on the N train this morning,

“This is the ‘man’ who hit me on the N train this morning. This is his face. Share it!”

In the footage from the train, a man named Victor Conde, 29, can be seen stepping in to help Miss Saia.

He calmly held Mr Smith’s arms down and tried to diffuse the situation.

Speaking about that moment he said: “The slogan is, 'see something, say something.' Who are you going to say it to at that moment? I had to do something”.

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