A 23-year-old woman has been arrested for last week’s a brutal, caught-on-video bottle attack on a New York City subway performer — who said Thursday that he is once again ready to play his cello.
Amira Hunter, of Brooklyn, was captured by the NYPD Wednesday evening — 15 days after she allegedly battered Iain S. Forrest, 29, as he performed “Titanium” by Sia in the Herald Square station.
Hunter is well-known to police, with eight prior arrests. She was last taken into custody in October after stealing $2,050 worth of bathing suits from New York’s famous Bergdorf Goodman.
Hunter, who violently whacked Forrest in the head with his own metal water bottle, had been arrested for assault twice in 2019, after her mother called police. She also has priors for larcenies and criminal contempt.
On Wednesday, the young Brooklynite was charged with assault and is currently at Central Booking pending arraignment.
The young lawbreaker was filmed attacking Forrester on Feb. 13 during rush hour at the Midtown transit hub, which had prompted the cellist to stop performing in subway stations all together.
“I hadn’t touched my cello since being attacked in the NYC subway…until today,,” Forrest revealed in a X post Wednesday where he showed off some free gifts from a music company.
The Mount Sinai MD-PhD student said he is still “feeling demoralized and saddened” by the incident that he can’t “bring myself to play music.”
However, he did manage to play a bit inside his apartment after using the new tools D’Addario Orchestral, an instrument supply company, sent him.
Last week, Forrest announced he was suspending his subway performances “indefinitely” and called on the NYPD to protect musicians.
“Two attacks in less than a year is two too much [sic],” he said in an Instagram post. “I have been punched, choked, and now bashed in the head.
“I love performing for you all in the subway, but I’m at my breaking point and can’t take more injury or harm,” he said.
Forrest participates in the MTA’s Music Under New York program, which schedules musicians to hold performances at NYC transit hubs.
Forrest and others started a coalition, the Subway Performers Advocacy Group, to demand better security from the city to protect musicians.
“No one in the transit system, including the musicians, should be subjected to violence, and when the NYPD catches up to the person who committed this senseless attack they will be held accountable,” the MTA said in a statement.
The Post has reached out to Forrest for comment.
