Woman punched for calling out 'manspreading' on New York subway now receiving death threats and racist abuse
'I’d like people to stop calling me a "race traitor" and saying that if they’d see me on the street they’d punch me'
A woman who was viciously assaulted by a man she called out for ‘
manspreading’ says she’s received death threats since her attack went viral.
Sam Saia was
hit in the face last week after asking Derek Smith to move his legs while sitting on the
New York subway on her way to work.
Since going public on social media she has been the subject of vile abuse from online trolls calling her a “n****r lover” and “race traitor” – but says she doesn’t regret speaking out.
“I did what I had to do… Looking back, I still would have done this,” she told
New York Daily News.
Ms Saia posted a graphic picture of her bruised face on Twitter and Facebook after initially claiming to have been given the run-around by police when she tried to report the attack.
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But the incessant trolling has forced the 37-year-old to take her social media posts down.
“I just want people to back off at this point,” she said. “I’d like people to stop calling me a ‘race traitor’ and saying that if they’d see me on the street they’d punch me.”
Another troll wrote: “Dumb feminist gets a taste of reality and diversity.”
Ms Saia said she was riding on the N train when Mr Smith sat next to her and spread his legs out wide, crushing her against the train wall.
When she asked him to give him some space, the 56-year-old from Brooklyn became violent and struck her, causing her to hit her head and “feel blood”.
A Good Samaritan was caught on video stepping in and forcing Mr Smith off the subway train after he launched into a sickening rant.
“B****, you ain’t nothing! I’ve raped white b*****s like you, f***ing c****! You ain’t nothing, you f***ing b****!” Mr Smith yelled, according to Ms Saia.
“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,” Ms Saia told
CBS News.
“I just looked at him and said, ‘Alright, just came down, just relax.’”
Mr Smith was arrested on Saturday and charged the next day for assault, menacing and harassment.
Victor Conde was the passenger who came to Ms Saia’s rescue, confronting Mr Smith, holding his arms down and forcing him to get off the train.
The video filmed by another passenger named Anthony Macca shows the 29-year-old shouting at Mr Smith: “Get the f*** off the train. Get off the train bro, you just f***ing hit a lady.”
Mr Smith has said to have tried to apologise to Ms Saia after Mr Conde intervened.
Woman 'punched in the face' by man she asked to stop manspreading
“The slogan is, ‘See something, say something.’ Who are you going to say it to at that moment? I had to do something,” Mr Conde has since said.
Meanwhile, Mr Macca said he witnessed Mr Smith and Ms Saia arguing for two stops, but didn’t see him hit her.
“She said, ‘You hit me!’ And then I heard a loud bang to my left. [Mr Conde] grabbed the other guy, I started recording,” Mr Macca said.
The NYPD is now launching a probe into how officers handled the attack. Ms Saia said she tried to report it initially at the 17thPrecinct in Midtown, New York, but desk officers told her to go to a different precinct which had jurisdiction over the subway line.
An officer there told her that she’d be wasting her time. After getting treatment in hospital, Ms Saia says she returned to the 17th Precinct and received further resistance from cops.
NYPD has also said that Mr Smith has two previous arrests, including one for sex abuse.
