The Long Island college student beaten up by unarmed security guards inside a Manhattan subway station told The Post he’s “shocked” and a “little traumatized” over the attack.
Matthew Stone, who attends St. John’s University, said Thursday he still has a “massive” headache and can’t feel his mouth after the Wednesday beatdown inside 14th Street-Union Square subway station.
“It’s really messed up. The system is failing. I’m a little traumatized,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Post.
Stone was confronted by three guards at the station, one who allegedly broke his phone and two who assaulted him, police have said.
“When they hit me, all I could think of was ‘wow they really hit me,’” he added. “I didn’t really think they would do that because they are on the job.
“I’m in shock. I’m still in shock really that it happened like that.”
The three guards were part of a firm contracted by the MTA to stop farebeating on the transit system. They allegedly got into a tussle with Stone after they told him he couldn’t exit the station through the emergency gate, MTA and NYPD sources told The Post.
Stone explained he wanted to go through the service exit – instead of the turnstile – because he had bags of sneakers with him en route to a shoe store.
“It would have been annoying to go through the turnstile,” Stone said. “I approached there and she came off disrespectful, telling me ‘people are hopping the train and you need to go through the turnstile.’”
The confrontation escalated when Stone said he questioned her tone with him. He then began to record the interaction on his phone to “expose” how the guard was acting.
“They all got in my face. She threatened to [f–k] me up. I hit record and three more guards came up, all started pressing me. As I was about to leave, she took my phone,” he said, adding. “As I tried to get it back, I see three or four guards push me, punch me…my phone was cracked.”
Shamasia Maddox, 26, was charged with assault, disorderly conduct, harassment and criminal mischief, police said. Her two male colleagues — Kenneth Cole, 27, and Rawshod Caesar, 24 – were charged with assault, harassment and disorderly conduct, sources said.
“She was cursing me out, saying ‘I’ll [f–k] you up, don’t come at me like that,” Stone recalled. “You don’t know who you’re talking to.’”
Stone’s mother, Joy Stone, said her son keeps complaining about headaches, nausea and vomiting following the attack.
“He got hit in the head so he’s not doing so well with that,” Stone said as she wondered how the guards are vetted for the positions.
“It seems like they have no tolerance and they didn’t really care,” she said of the guards.
MTA officials have used unarmed security contractors to watch over subway emergency gates since the summer and are expanding to more stations. The MTA said the vendor –launched by a top aide to Mayor Eric Adams – informed transit officials the trio of charged guards won’t be assigned to work at MTA facilities.
Officials claim the guards are not only supposed to thwart riders from using open gates to evade the fare, but also to stop criminals from entering the subway altogether.
“It seems to be a bad idea if people on the job feel like they are comfortable to put their hands on someone,” Matthew Stone said.