NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Two teenage girls were charged with assault late Friday, after a 78-year-old woman was beaten at a subway station in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn a day earlier.

Jazmine Watson, 16, of Brooklyn, was charged as an adult with second-degree assault, police said. Another girl, 15, was also charged with assault, but her name was not released, police said.

As CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, Watson was surprised to see CBS2’s camera as she was led out of the NYPD Transit Bureau station in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

“Oh my God, shut up!” Watson said as she was escorted away by police.

The two girls were arrested after authorities said both of the girls’ mothers turned in their daughters to police. CBS2 is told this came after one mother saw her 16-year-old daughter’s picture on TV.

As CBS2’s Scott Rapoport reported, surveillance video captured the girls attacking the woman on the southbound platform of the Franklin Avenue C Train station on Fulton Street at around 3:15 p.m. Thursday

Investigators said it was all because the victim wanted a seat on the train.

“I just saw an older woman being attacked,” said Good Samaritan Ted Hamilton. “I went over tried to help her out.”

Police said while on a train at the station the victim asked a woman to take her foot off the seat so she could sit down. Police said the suspect cursed at her.



Later, when they were out on the platform, police said both suspects attacked the elderly victim, punching and kicking her in the face, head and body.

A girl who appears in surveillance video wearing white attacked first, witnesses said.

“The girl attacked her from behind — hit her in the face, knocked her down, and then another girl came and restrained the girl that was hitting her,” Hamilton told CBS2’s Janelle Burrell. “She just told her to watch her back. That was it.”

Hamilton carried the woman up the station steps after the attack and called police. Meanwhile, police said the suspects – ages 15 and 16 – hopped on an outbound C Train and bolted.

The victim was taken to New York Methodist Hospital with injuries to her face and knee.

“She was agitated. She was hurt. I mean, she was a little disoriented,” Hamilton said.

Commuters at the station said they were disgusted over the incident.

“People shouldn’t have their feet on an open seat,” said Joanna Balula of Brooklyn. “That’s just common sense.”

“I hope they catch them…. You don’t attack old people like that — that’s one thing you just don’t do,” another commuter told 1010 WINS Glenn Schuck. “Period.”

An elderly neighbor of the victim’s applauded the mother’s actions.

“She did the right thing,” said the neighbor, named Winston. “She did the right thing.”

CBS2 spoke with the woman’s daughter, who said her mother is home and doing well, but understandably traumatized. She said their family is grateful to Hamilton and the first responders who helped her.