New York City subway suspect Norton Blake has been released by police after he “hit a 60-year-old woman 50 times with her own stick” – because the couple gave “conflicting accounts”.

New York police officers released the suspect, who was accused of hitting a 60-year-old woman with her own stick, after questioning him at the scene of the heinous attack.

Norton Blake, 43, has been named by NYPD officials as the sole suspect in the attack on Laurell Reynolds, which took place at a Harlem subway station early Friday.

Officers questioned Blake but released him without arresting him after he and Reynolds gave conflicting accounts of the attack New York Post reported.

Officers’ handling of Blake at the scene is under investigation, sources said. An NYPD spokesman did not comment when reached by DailyMail.com.

Victim Reynolds, who uses a walker, voiced her outrage, telling the Post in a bedside interview, “They should have arrested him!”

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Norton Blake, 43, has been named by NYPD officials as the sole suspect in the attack on victim Laurell Reynolds, which took place early Friday at a Harlem subway station

Norton Blake remained at large Tuesday night, a law enforcement source confirmed

“I didn’t deserve that.” “Not at all, not at all … and I pray to God it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Reynolds said. “You must keep this man off the streets.”

It’s unclear if police saw video of the attack by bystanders before or after releasing Blake.

The video was filmed by a transit worker who called the city’s Rail Control Center, which in turn called 911 as she documented the attack, officials said.

NYPD Department of Transportation chief Michael Kemper named Blake the prime suspect in the attack at a Tuesday news conference.

Blake remained at large Tuesday night, a law enforcement source confirmed to DailyMail.com.

Just days after the attack, the two-minute clip of the beating went viral – sparking a search for the man in the footage after he successfully fled before police arrived.

The attack happened just before 3:30 a.m. Friday when Reynolds – who lives in the Bronx – was walking through the West 116 Street and Lenox Avenue subway station in Harlem.

In comments to The New York PostReynolds’ daughter revealed she only found out about the assault after seeing the video online.

“Now I know,” recalled Lashanne Reese, 41, also from the Bronx, after wondering why her mother never managed to fund her apartment for a party she threw Saturday after she had left her home go home and change.

Commenting on the harrowing footage – which appeared to have been filmed from inside a subway tollbooth – she said: “I’m hurt – it hurts.”

“This man could have killed my mother,” she added, as her mother remains hospitalized and is believed to be in stable condition.

‘None of you did anything.’ I have a problem with that.’

NYPD Department of Transportation chief Michael Kemper named Blake the prime suspect in the attack

The attacker showed no mercy as he hit Reynolds more than 50 times with her cane

Blake has a long list of allegations ranging from drug possession and assault to trespassing and resisting arrest. On Friday, however, he is said to have given the police a false name.

“We’re looking for him and I’m pretty confident he’ll be arrested shortly and charged with this assault,” Kemper assured reporters after revealing Blake as her only suspect.

Referring to the course of the altercation, the chief traffic cop said he and others believed the suspect and Reynolds had been arguing when the victim was crossing one of the train station’s stairs.

‘A witness [said] “They were arguing about something that might have been dropped,” Kemper said, claiming it’s still unclear if the two knew each other.

“He might have helped her carry something up the stairs and then something might have fallen, leading to an argument,” he surmised.

The dispute soon escalated into one of the most heinous attacks on the system in recent memory, with Blake allegedly punching Reynolds in the head, stomach, leg, arms, back and hands.

The beating, which began after Blake snatched the cane from her hands, continued as she fell to the ground, shocking thousands across the city and country because it was long-lasting and unrelenting.

Law enforcement sources also told the Post that Blake was well known to the NYPD during his escape — and had previously been arrested for drug possession, assault, trespassing, resisting arrest, tampering with evidence and possession of stolen property.

In two of the assault offenses, the suspect punched other NYPD officers, insiders said — one in 2017 when he resisted arrest and another in 2003, in which he punched an officer in the face while he was off-duty .

Police have identified 43-year-old Norton Blake as the sole suspect in Friday’s attack, which took place around 3:30 a.m. at a West Harlem train station and was filmed

The victim’s daughter was unsure why her mother was in Harlem at the time of the attack and lamented that no one on the platform jumped to help when she was attacked

Reese told the Post she wasn’t sure why her mother was in Harlem at the time of the attack and lamented that no one on the platform jumped to help when she was attacked.

“We’re meant to be a loving, caring community.” “It’s unity in community — when we bring in unity, we get a whole community,” Reese said.

“So they don’t do that… that’s why it’s happening everywhere,” she continued. “It happens everywhere because there is no unity in our community.”

Of the suspect, she tearfully said: He needs help – No, he shouldn’t be on the street.

“He just attacked my mother and hit her with a stick.” He doesn’t belong on the street.

Subway crime is considered one of the city’s biggest crises, and although statistics show traffic offenses have declined slightly, even Manhattan’s progressive District Attorney Alvin Bragg said last month he feared for his family if they travel by subway.

“I know the statistics that crime on public transport is going down, but when one of my family members gets on the train, I get a knot in my stomach, too,” he said FOX 5 news when asked about the perception that the subway system is becoming increasingly unsafe.

“I live here, I’m raising my family here, so we have a lot more work to do,” he added.

Accordingly, serious crime in the subway system fell by 9.9 percent in July compared to the previous year City stats.