NEW YORK – A brave Muslim high school student helped cops arrest a man who attacked a Jewish woman on a Brooklyn subway train on Tuesday night, offering a role model to American youth.
“Some people are like ‘she’s Jewish, why did you help her,’ ” Ahmed Khalifa, 17, of Midwood, told NY Daily News on Wednesday, December 28.
“I’m like everyone is equal. I treat everyone the same way.”
It all began when Khalifa was riding the Q home after working a shift at the public library near Grand Army Plaza.
He had his headphones on when he heard a commotion. He looked up and saw Rayvon Jones, 31, slammed his open hand into an Orthodox Jewish woman’s face who was sitting in a seat.
“It was a very hard slap, I almost could feel the slap,” Khalifa told the Daily News. “He was 6-foot-6, and a very big, big guy.”
The impact smashed her glasses, and she dropped to the floor and was unconscious for a few seconds, he said. Another woman rushed to her side to help her.
She came to and sobbed, “Why would he do this to me? Why would he do this to me?” as she desperately reached around to find her glasses.
“A lady told me to run after the guy,” Khalifa said. “It took me a while to catch up. He started sprinting.”
Losing Jones, he was assisted by an Orthodox passerby who offered to help track down Jones.
“He was driving, so I got in,” he said. “We were just talking about how it was a hate crime. We found him at the bus stop and called the Shomrim.”
Numerous members of the Shomrim, the Jewish safety patrol, arrived to help find Jones.
Khalifa spotted Jones at a bus stop and the posse waited quietly while he got on the bus and cops arrived.
“I got out and looked at the window and yelled, ‘Get out you coward why are you trying to hide!’ ” he said. “He pulled on his hoodie like he was trying not to be recognized.”
The police started removing people from the bus, and Jones got violent.
“I’m going to kill all of you! I’m going to kill all of you!” he screamed, according to Khalifa.
“He was screaming just horrible things,” he said.
The incident is not the first time Khalifa, who hopes to attend Ohio State University, get out of his way to help someone.
Seven months ago, he helped pull a suicidal homeless man away from jumping into the tracks from a train.
“I grabbed him and pulled him inside,” he said. “Cops were at the next station. It was an F train coming from Manhattan.”
Khalifa said he doesn’t want to be called a hero.
“It was just something anybody should do,” he said. “It’s not that big of a deal to me.”