Straphanger shoved onto Times Square subway tracks in unprovoked stranger attack but escapes serious injury

A straphanger was shoved onto the subway tracks in Times Square but escaped serious injury in the unprovoked attack from a stranger, police said Thursday.

The 35-year-old victim was on the downtown No. 1 train platform when he was shoved from behind, falling onto the tracks and hitting his head at 10:12 p.m. Wednesday

Bystanders helped him off the tracks, police said. A train was not entering the station at the time.

Wilson Garcia, 27, of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was nabbed in the station by responding cops and charged with felony assault. He was also charged with forcible touching for an unrelated groping incident that occurred in Manhattan on May 25, police said.

The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and is expected to recover.

“This awful incident makes clear again the importance on platforms of visible police officers, who helped the victim get back to safety and immediately arrested the perpetrator,” NYC Transit President Richard Davey said. “We are grateful the rider was not seriously injured and are hopeful for his rapid recovery.”

Straphanger Michelle Go was pushed to her death in front of an R train at the same station in January, sparking citywide concerns about subway safety as Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials struggled to get more riders to return to transit.

Go, 40, was randomly targeted by Simon Martial, a 61-year-old homeless man. The attacker was later declared unfit to stand trial.

According to the NYPD, subway crime through Sunday is up 53%, in part because of a 19% rise in felony assaults to 328 from 276 at the same time last year.

With Clayton Guse