Aiexpress – A 23-year-old with eight prior charges was arrested in the brutal bottle attack on a New York City subway cellist seen on video, and she was quickly released Thursday despite appeals to be detained on bond.
Amira Hunter was arrested Wednesday night, 15 days after reportedly hitting Iain S. Forrest, 29, in the head while he performed at the Herald Square station.
Manhattan prosecutors urged for $15,000 cash bail or a $45,000 bond at Hunter’s arraignment on second-degree assault charges on Thursday, noting that she failed to appear at three of her five court dates in previous criminal matters in 2018.
“The people have little faith that she will return to court of her own volition,” prosecutor Alexandra Robertson told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Marva Brown.
Hunter, of Brooklyn, also had a bench warrant out for her arrest in two incidents of petit larceny, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
According to authorities, her most recent arrest was in October on grand larceny charges for allegedly taking two bathing suits valued at $2,050 from Bergdorf Goodman.
According to sources, she was detained twice for hitting her mother in 2019.
Despite her previous past, Brown released Hunter on supervised release, despite the fact that the juror could have set bail on the assault charge, which is a severe felony under existing law.
Hunter was captured on tape reportedly whacking Forrest in the head with his own metal water bottle while performing Sia’s “Titanium” underground on February 13.
The terrible attack left Forrest shaken.
“I hadn’t touched my cello since being attacked in the NYC subway… until today,” Forrest stated in an X post Wednesday. He also showed off some complimentary presents from a music company.
The Mount Sinai PhD student, who was not gravely harmed, stated that he is still “feeling demoralized and saddened” by the incident and cannot “bring myself to play music.”
He was, however, able to perform some music inside his flat after receiving new tools from D’Addario Orchestral, an instrument supply firm.
Last week, Forrest said that he would cease his subway performances “indefinitely” and urged the NYPD to protect artists.
“Two attacks in less than a year is too much,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I’ve been punched, choked, and bashed in the head.
“I love performing for you all in the subway, but I’m at my breaking point and can’t take more injury or harm,” he told the crowd.
Forrest takes part in the MTA’s Music Under New York program, which arranges for artists to perform at major New York transit hubs.
Forrest and others formed the Subway Performers Advocacy Group to lobby the city for improved security measures to protect musicians.
“No one in the transit system, including the musicians, should be subjected to violence, and when the NYPD catches up to the person who committed this senseless attack, they will be held accountable,” the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) stated in a statement.
