A Brooklyn MTA station agent who was violently assaulted at her booth nearly 16 months ago has died, and prosecutors have now postponed the trial of her accused attackers to dig into whether the two events are connected. Marshalee Reid, 52, passed away on October 25, according to her union, nearly 16 months after she was attacked while working at the New Lots Station.
A Death That Raises New Questions
Reid’s death was announced by TWU Local 100, the union representing transit workers, which said she died on October 25 at age 52. The union was careful not to draw a direct line between the assault and her death, stating plainly that it had yet to establish whether her passing was induced by the malicious assault she suffered, and that a full investigation would follow. That caution comes even as the union has laid out a medical history that spans both events: Reid had recently returned to work after undergoing brain surgery when she was attacked at New Lots Station on June 28, 2025, and she underwent another brain surgery after that assault, the union said.
According to News 12 Brooklyn, prosecutors have now postponed the trial of Reid’s accused attackers so they can review her medical records and investigate a possible link between the attack and her death. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said the investigation will determine whether charges against the two women need to be upgraded, per the same report. The trial had been scheduled to begin Wednesday before the postponement was announced.
What Happened at New Lots Station
The attack itself unfolded after Reid confronted two women accompanied by a small child who had not paid their fare, News 12 Brooklyn previously reported. NY1 reported at the time that Reid said the women beat her up after she refused to let one of them through the turnstile without paying, an account detailed in the outlet’s July 2025 coverage of the assault. Reid told News 12 Long Island she was still recovering from brain surgery when the attack happened, a detail that underscored how vulnerable she was at the moment she was targeted.
Police identified the two women accused in the attack as 24-year-old Ayizhae Thomas and a 25-year-old woman whose last name has been spelled differently across reports: the union’s own tribute to Reid refers to her as Lashea Aldridge, while News 12 Long Island’s earlier reporting spelled her name Lashea Aldride. The discrepancy has not been resolved in available records. The union said the two women were charged with three felony assault counts, including second-degree assault, and had been set for trial Wednesday before prosecutors intervened.
A Mother, Grandmother and Coworker Remembered
Nicolette Browne, division chair of TWU Local 100’s stations department, told News 12 Brooklyn that she was devastated and unable to speak for days after learning of Reid’s death. Browne described Reid as a mother and grandmother, and said the union is seeking justice for the assault Reid suffered along with a full review of the facts surrounding her death, according to the same report.
Earlier coverage from Brooklyn Paper described Reid, then 51, as the MTA employee assaulted at the New Lots Avenue station by two women she had confronted over fare evasion, confirming the basic contours of the case as it existed in the weeks after the attack.
Transit Worker Safety Under Scrutiny
The assault on Reid last year became a flashpoint in a broader conversation about violence against transit workers. An NY1 report from July 2025, citing MTA data, said more than 10 attacks on transit workers had occurred between January and March of that year alone. NYPD data cited in that same report showed transit-crime incidents had actually ticked down citywide, with 175 incidents recorded in June 2025 compared with 187 the previous June, and 519 incidents in the second fiscal quarter of the year compared with 525 during the same stretch a year earlier.
Yet citywide numbers didn’t tell the whole story for Reid’s own precinct. ABC7 New York reported that while transit crime was down 3 percent citywide that year, crime in Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct area, where Reid worked, was up a staggering 71.4 percent. That gap between the broader trend and the reality on the ground where Reid clocked in each day has fueled renewed calls from her union for greater protection for station agents.
