Manhattan subway rider who forced stranger sitting next to him into sex nabbed: NYPD

A Manhattan subway rider who forced a man sitting next to him to perform oral sex was nabbed Thursday, hours after his photo was released by the NYPD, police said.

Mohammad Azeem is charged with rape, sexual abuse and forcible touching for the April 26 attack, cops said.

“We don’t do that s—,” Azeem told reporters when he was walked out of the 84th Precinct stationhouse in downtown Brooklyn by cops to appear in court. “We ain’t gay.”

The 27-year-old victim was riding an uptown No. 1 train when the attacker sat down next to him at about 4:15 a.m. Saturday, according to police.

Azeem, 36, allegedly made lewd comments and demanded the victim’s money, then forced the victim to perform oral sex on him as the train approached the Christopher St. stop in Greenwich Village.

The attacker then exited the train without stealing any money and fled the station.

The victim alerted the train conductor about the attack. Medics transported him to an area hospital in stable condition.

Cops released surveillance images of the suspect early Thursday and asked the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down.

Azeem was arrested later in the day. He lives in Crown Heights, according to cops.

The suspect’s arraignment was pending in Manhattan Criminal Court.

The disturbing case comes in the wake of a shocking attempted rape and grand larceny on a Manhattan subway.

Last month, an MTA train conductor found the corpse of Jorge Gonzalez, 37, facedown on the floor of an idling R train at the Whitehall St. subway station in lower Manhattan. Gonzalez had only been dead for about 30 minutes on April 8 before Felix Rojas, 44, approached the body and allegedly started rifling through the dead man’s pockets — then sexually attacked him, police charged. Gonzalez’s body was orally and anally violated, police said.

Adding to the horror, a short time after the sexual attack, the corpse also was robbed by a woman, cops said.

Rojas was arrested Sunday after his son told police he recognized his father as the man in security footage released by the NYPD.

Originally Published: May 1, 2025 at 9:20 AM EDT