She is the scarred face of spiraling subway crime.
Sixteen procedures and more than a year after a deranged stranger threw sulfuric acid in her face in a Brooklyn train station, Juanita Jimenez is still trying to heal, inside and out.
The random act of transit violence forever changed her life — and now, with subway crime up nearly 20% so far this year, she’s speaking out about how more cops and mental health resources are needed to restore safety and sanity to the rails.
“I always thought something like this can’t happen to me – I’m such a nice person, it couldn’t be me…[but] it really could just be anybody. We didn’t get into an argument, I didn’t know her, I didn’t have anything with her and it still occurred,” said Jimenez, 22.
Her horror unfolded Dec. 2, 2022 at the Winthrop Street 2/5 station, as Jimenez was getting off the southbound 2 train on her way to her job as a personal care assistant at Kings County Hospital.