A New York City man accused of trying to snatch a young woman off of a Bronx subway train is maintaining his innocence, saying he’s actually the hero in all this.
Footage from the bizarre incident surfaced earlier this week, showing the moment Sonny Alloway, 48, scoops up an unidentified woman and tries to dash off the train. The New York Post reports the abduction unfolded just after 3 a.m. Sunday on the 6 train in the Bronx, where Alloway says he was trying to save the woman who claimed she was being held hostage.
“Listen, this is what happened. The chick was like, ‘Yo, help me. Help me. … He’s holding me hostage,’” he explains in a video shared on Instagram. “I was like, ‘Who, this dude right here?’”
Alloway recalls telling the woman to get “get off the train,” at the next stop, to which he says she responded, “Nah, he’s gonna beat me up.”
So the Bronx man said he quickly hatched a plan to get the young woman to safety — but things didn’t go over well.
In an initial video of the incident, the coat-clad woman is heard screaming “What the f–k? Let me Go!” as Alloway attempts to haul her off the train. The woman manages to stay put, however, and a stoic Alloway takes a seat on a bench inside the Morrison Avenue-Soundview station. The doors to the train then close.
The unsung hero said he was baffled as to what had happened.
“So I’m sitting there now,” he recounted in a sit-down interview with the New York Daily News. “I’m confused. I’m like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ “Why is this girl screaming for ‘Help! Help! Help!’ when she just said she wanted to get off of this train?”
Word of the alleged abduction soon got back to Alloway’s block, where the purported hero says he was beaten at the hands of vigilantes who detained him until police arrived. But the violence didn’t stop there; the Bronx man said he’s been jumped at least three times since the viral video went up.
He reportedly sustained injuries so severe he had to be treated at St. Barnabas Hospital, according to the newspaper.
Alloway insists the video is all a misunderstanding and that he was trying to be a Samaritan — not a sexual predator. He recalled some guys from his block coming over and asking, “Why you try to rape that chick?”
“That’s a grown crackhead wilding out and s—, ” he said he told them.
In a newly surfaced video, the alleged subway hero finally comes face to face with the woman who accused him of trying to snatch her. The teen, who was accompanied by the man/boyfriend Alloway says she previously claimed was holding her captive, is seen shouting at Alloway from across the platform.
In the clip, the parties are heard yelling back and forth as a large crowd gathers around them.
“I didn’t try to take her! I didn’t try to take her!” Alloway shouts.
“Am I lying?” the woman shoots back. “Ask anybody!”
The bizarre incident drew mixed reactions online, and observers were stuck choosing sides.
“THA MAN INNOCENT!!” one Instagram user commented.
“This is really strange….and the boyfriend look like he still tryna figure out who snatched her 🤦🏽,” another chimed in.
Another said, “Cant y’all see the couple are junkies.”
“If you know anything about [East] 125th & Lex[ington Ave], this got crack written all over it,” someone else agreed.
Others were more sympathetic to the alleged victim, writing words of support like “Black WOMEN’s Lives Matter 👊🏾.”
According to the Daily News, Alloway was initially charged with unlawful imprisonment before being let go after Bronx district attorneys deferred prosecution to give them more time to build a case.
So far, the NYPD says the female victim hasn’t come forward.
Watch more in the video below.