Zaki Smith, a 36-year-old subway shover, launched into a tirade while in court. His profane speech erupted at Manhattan Criminal Court, where he was facing attempted murder charges. He threatened to break the handcuffs that he was in, and then dared the officers to shoot him.

He screamed profanities in court, which forced court officers to remove Smith. He said, “Don’t touch me. “Get shot at, bro. I don’t give a f–k what you’ll do, I’ll run my mouth. The cuffs are on, I’ll break them, I’ll do it right here. You’re not about to shoot me with the ‘f—ing gun.”

This delayed his arraignment process. The court directed officers to bring him in if he would calm down. Smith had allegations of shoving a 70-year-old woman on subway tracks on July 19, 2026.

He allegedly walked behind the victim and then tossed her onto the northbound tracks at 57th Street–Seventh Avenue, in what is being described as a sudden, unprovoked attack. The victim was rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center. She was stable and only required four staples to a wound in her head. Smith stood accused of attempted murder, felony assault, and misdemeanor assault. He was held without bail, according to the NY Post.

Smith had been arrested 14 times before. Recent ones being in 2026 and having a 2021 Manhattan felony assault conviction. He has served time at Sing Sing Correctional Facility between November 2021 and May 2025. He was out on parole. In May 2025, Smith allegedly robbed an MTA employee. He has also been found with FDNY work phones. He was under active post-release supervision, which was set to run till 2030. A fresh parole violation warrant was issued against Smith in July 2026, after he attacked the woman.

Smith was also arrested in 2016 for a stabbing and faced issues in 2022 for assaulting a female correction officer at Rikers Island. Just last month, Smith was arrested for burglary. This was in connection with him stealing Lysol and cleaning rags from a Falitron building. He was released the next day. Smith also failed to appear for his court date in the burglary case, which resulted in a warrant being issued even before the subway shoving case. Bail reforms have been pushed in the light of the case.

There have been a lot of comments made on the case. One user online said, “Felony assault and back out to push people onto the tracks.” Another user said, “The folks in NYC need to go through basic training to ride the subways.” A third user said, “The subway system has felt so unpredictable lately; I really don’t know how people even feel safe waiting on the platforms anymore. Just heartbreaking.”

Disclaimer: Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available.