SHOCKING:This woman was assaulted and left crumpled on the floor of a PATH station corridor and police are looking for the man seen on video at right.
A violent thug attacked a woman at a West Village PATH station for her iPhone — and surveillance video caught him fleeing the scene as she lay crumpled on the floor.
The scrappy victim managed to fight off the hulk at the Ninth Street station and held on to her iPhone 4 — but the thug got away.
The creep, whose image was clearly captured by the cameras, tossed the 37-year-old Jersey City woman around the empty corridor like a rag doll just before midnight Monday, sources said.
He fled the scene only because he heard a train arriving and knew the station would soon be flooded with witnesses, sources said.
The woman told detectives she sensed being watched on her way home, and video shows the man following her — even peeking around the corner as he waited for his moment to pounce, according to Port Authority police.
He waited until she was holding the phone out, possibly to send a text message, then made his move, cops said.
“He threw her against the wall, threw her to the ground and was leaning over her at one point,” said PA police spokesman Al Della Fave.
But the woman wouldn’t relent and clasped the phone close to her body as he continued to paw at it.
“In one last act of frustration, he grabbed her neck and gave it a sharp twist,” leaving her on the ground too frightened to move, Della Fave said.
“She laid on the ground for some time until some other folks finally came over and helped her out,” Della Fave said.
The woman was traumatized but not seriously injured and refused medical attention.
Police are asking for help finding the man.
“It’s a very wanted item,” Della Fave said of iPhones, cautioning users to “be aware of people around when you’re texting.”
Police have also warned people to be especially aware when using the gizmos on commuter trains and subways.
Thefts of high-tech gadgets have been on the rise, with more than 11,000 rip-offs of Apple products reported in the city since January.
But frightened passengers said there needs to be more security at the stations.
“That’s crazy. For a cellphone? It makes me want to keep my iPhone in my pocket,” said Andre Ortiz, 29, a tattoo artist from Brownsville who rides the PATH.
And Monica Silva, 48, a nurse who commutes daily on the PATH, said she would have “just gave it up.”
“An iPhone is not worth me getting hurt,” she said.
Additional reporting by Antonio Antenucci and Philip Messing