"I will slap the next person who talks"

[KurtNYC]

I get on the express subway from 72nd Street and A guy gets on after me and stands in the middle of the car with his back to me. He starts to talk in a very loud voice to everyone and no one in particular. First some ad libbed Bible quote. Then he says, twice as loud, "I will slap the next person who talks!"

So great...I'm stuck on a subway car with a violent nut. Everyone except a pair of Japanese women stops talking. He goes on about how when God is speaking you owe it to Him to listen, he made you, etc. He never slaps the Japanese women. And he never slaps himself btw.

I am trying not to listen but what choice is there. His energy is really aggressive though he seems mostly sober. At one point his says "I would like to stab someone...but I don't because I love God.."

After what seems an eternity but was probably 4 minutes, the train pulls into 42nd. He gets out and runs to the next car to threaten them in next leg of the journey.

This was one of the few times I have considered reporting threatening activity on the train but I just never want to see that guy again. What woud you do?

[MicaelS]

1. Talked,

let him slap me, than had him arrested for assault and battery.

[ThomCat]

Easier said than done. By the time you found someone to

report him to, he would be long gone. It's not like there is a cop standing right nearby.

It's not even as if a cop around here is even guaranteed to do anything if you found one. By the time you convince them that it's worth their time to take you seriously and come look for this guy he's got time to be several subway stops and one or two transfers away. You've got no chance of finding him.

So you're letting yourself get slapped probably for nothing but the joy of getting slapped.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. well said

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. I'd pound the crap out of him and tell him God made me do it.

[ThomCat]

8. If one of these preacher assholes threatened someone

I'd really, truly love to see someone do that to one of them. So many of them really have it coming. :(

It is a shame that people who claim to be preaching salvation insist on harassing people. They are the ones we need salvation from.

[Roon]

2. Placed him under citizen's arrest and called the cops

or call the cops and trail him until the police show up. Then report what he did. Of course, if you are headed to work and would be late, that wouldn't be an option.

[Shell Beau]

11. How well does that placing someone under citizens arrest really work?

I mean really?

I wish it did work because there are a few I would have loved to arrest myself. I guess if you have some backup citizens it can work.

[auntAgonist]

4. Perhaps he was mentally ill and experiencing

some sort of 'episode'. Scary for all involved I'm sure. I hope no one was harmed as the day progressed and IF he needed help I hope he got it.

[KurtNYC]

5. I like your generous spirit

He was clean and well dressed. Seemed like he had done this before.

But all the same i agree, if he needed help I hope he got it, and without slapping or stabbing anyone.

[ThomCat]

10. I think a lot of people with mental health issues

get pushed by churches into preaching. They are vulnerable, go to their churches for counseling, and may be predisposed by experience with bureaucratic mental health care systems to do what they are told.

For many years there was a men's homeless shelter near me for men with mental health issues. I saw a lot of the same guys walking the streets in my area over and over for years. Some of those guys would periodically show up suddenly well dressed as street preachers in the subways in other parts of the city. They were in a church sponsored program, cleaned up, and drafted into doing their part to support the church.

I'm sure many of the street preachers aren't recruited this way. I'm sure there are many ways people end up pulled into the street preacher role. This is just one way. But it explains some of the more unstable and potentially violent street preachers.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. Was it a short, fat Latino guy wearing a sports jacket?

Sounds kind of like the guy I run into sometimes.

[KurtNYC]

13. no this was a kind of buff, 5-10", African guy with a slight accent from the

carribean. I have never seen this one before.

I used to see a lot more of the yelling types when I was riding out to Jamaica on the E or F trains.

[Chan790]

9. Hit the intercom button and reported it.

I, however, am big and scary. He'd better have God on his side if he wants to slap me. He wouldn't be the first disturbed individual to take a swing at me in the 9 months I've been a New Yorker.

That probably doesn't apply to most people.

[rug]

12. I'd move to the East Side.

[guitar man]

14. I would have talked

And as soon as he reached out to slap me I would have broken his damn arm...

[datasuspect]

15. i would have pulled the cherry to bring the train to a screeching halt

then donned my gladiator costume and slayed him for his insolence.