He went off the rails — for love.
The MTA worker who claimed he was attacked in a Queens subway station by an unhinged stranger — going as far as to slash his own hands — all so he could get the summer off told The Post he had a “plausible reason” for the hoax.
Henry Herring, 54, in an interview Tuesday, said he needed the time to take care of his sick fiancée.
“I know what I did looks like something very horrible, whatever,” the Brooklyn man admitted. “But I have a very good reason for what I did.”
Herring, a transit system cleaner who was hired last January and has since been suspended without pay, claimed his gal pal “had two brain surgeries and it caused brain leakage” and that he’d go visit her at Methodist Hospital every day after he got off work.
“I did something basically stupid. At the end of the day, I did it for someone I love,” he said.
“I would do it all over again,” he added. “I didn’t think I was a poser, pretentious — all of that. The thing is I want to be there for someone I care about. End of the day I had a real good reason for what I did. I’m not crazy.”
Herring was charged last week with falsely reporting an incident for telling cops that he was attacked while cleaning a train at the 179th Street subway station in Jamaica shortly after 3 a.m. July 31.
But surveillance cameras caught him red-handed and exposed the ruse, according to a criminal complaint.
“My goal was to have the summer off because it was too hot down there,” he allegedly told police.
Herring acknowledged Tuesday that he wanted some time off — with less than two years on the job he didn’t have enough accrued time to get a paid leave, he said.
“End of the day we get one sick day a month,” he said. “I had used mine up. I had no choice.”
But he then admitted that he still had five unused sick days at the time he faked the attack.
Herring, who has a “F–k the Police” tattoo on his arm, has served two stints in state prison on robbery and gun charges, but said he’s turned a corner and earned associates and bachelor’s degrees.
Between seeing to his fiancée as she recovers and physical therapy for injuries he said he sustained in a car accident in April, he simply needed a break, he told The Post.
His fiancée works for the Department of Social Services at a city migrant shelter, he said.
“I love my job. I love the MTA. They gave me a chance,” Herring said. “I messed up. I wasn’t thinking. I suggest you don’t try it.”
Herring, whose next court date is Oct. 8, said he wanted to tell his side after seeing The Post’s front-page about his case — which he seemed to enjoy.
“When I saw myself on the front page I had to clap back,” he said. “It may look stupid to the world, ‘Loco Motive’ — that’s cute anyway. But at the end of the day that’s why I did what I did.”
