Screenshot via New York Daily News
VICE News is closely watching policing in America. Check out the_ Officer Involved blog here._Passengers on a subway car tried to stop an off-duty NYPD officer from fleeing by train after he allegedly attacked a young female subway conductor in December, the New York Daily News reported.Officer Mirjan Lolja, 37, turned himself in on New Year's Day, nine days after security footage surfaced showing him leaving a Bronx subway station after he reportedly grabbed a 28-year-old Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) employee, shoved her to the floor, and choked her. The officer allegedly attacked the unnamed employee after learning his train had been delayed 20 minutes.The officer has said that the MTA worker cursed at him and attempted to steal his cell phone. The employee said Lolja became irate and began following workers with his phone and sticking it "in our faces."When she tried to grab his phone, Lolja attacked, the transit employee said, and stopped only when a train arrived on the platform at approximately 2:30am on December 23.The officer then attempted to escape on the train, but the employee called for the conductor to hold the train at the platform, while passengers reportedly began yelling at him, prompting him to flee by foot, the worker told the Daily News.Lolja, who was dubbed "The smiling creep" after video showed him smirking while exiting the turnstiles after the incident, later turned himself in to his supervisors at the 25th Precinct in Harlem, New York's PIX11 reported.The officer has been suspended and is currently being investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau. No charges were immediately filed.Lolja was hospitalized with minor back and neck injuries.
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