NEW YORK — A man who authorities say kicked a woman down a set of subway stairs and struck her in the head with a hammer during a robbery in Queens on Thursday has been arrested, the NYPD said Sunday.

William Blount, 57, faces charges including attempted murder, robbery and assault in connection with the attack, police said Sunday afternoon. His attorney information wasn’t immediately available.

The 57-year-old woman, who works as a researcher at the city’s Department of Health, was walking down a set of stairs leading into the Queens Plaza subway station around 11:20 p.m. on Thursday when a man approached her from behind and kicked her, the NYPD said.

After he kicked her, the man struck the woman in the head several times before fleeing the scene with her purse, police said.

The woman was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition, according to police.

At a news briefing Friday afternoon, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig called the attack “an unprovoked, brutal and appalling crime on a woman who was just trying to get home after a day’s work.”

Police said the woman noticed the man following her not long before she began walking down the stairs.

In a statement, Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said the city would “do everything we can to support her in her recovery,” adding that she “has worked tirelessly in service to her fellow New Yorkers and she is truly a public health hero.”