NEW YORK – Another attack disrupts the New York City subway system after a passenger was stabbed in an unprovoked attack that has become a daily occurrence.
The seemingly daily series of unprovoked traffic crimes continued in Manhattan on Friday, where police say a 43-year-old passenger was stabbed in the back at Harlem’s 125th Street station for no apparent reason. The passenger was attacked on platform A / B / C / D heading south around 4:30 am by a man in his 20s who ran afterwards.
Police say the stabbing victim was taken to hospital and should survive. No other details were immediately available given the circumstances early Friday.
On the Upper West Side, police are investigating another traffic attack: the one against a 78-year-old man who deigned to ask a group to turn down the volume of his loudspeaker, which was playing loud music. The accident occurred in mid-afternoon Thursday on a train no. 1 heading south as it approached 96th Street, police say.
The victim was hit in the face several times at his request and was taken to the hospital with facial bruises and lacerations. She is expected to be fine. No arrests were made.
The attacks on the subway over the past 24 hours have come amid what appears to be an endless expanse of similar cases. People were pushed in front of trains, good Samaritans were stabbed, passengers were beaten, someone was even threatened with a samurai sword, and a woman just broke her back after being thrown down the stairs in another unprovoked attack.
Also reported this week: a homeless man pushed onto the East 77th Street platforms on the Upper East Side who was rescued by good Samaritans; an 18-year-old man getting off a 6 train in the Bronx in the middle of the afternoon was punched in the back of the head; An L-train passenger in Brooklyn was punched by a stranger who started an argument out of the blue.
These are just some of the cases that have made New Yorkers nervous in recent weeks, despite assurances from the mayor and governor that the subways are safe. And the nine killings in the transit system so far this year haven’t helped either.
The latest reports come about a week after Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a new plan to curb violence on the subway, direct or otherwise, in an effort to calm public concerns as a struggling MTA seeks to continue its efforts to recover from the impact of the pandemic.
The plan includes more overtime shifts to increase the number of uniformed officers patrolling tracks and trains, as well as two new hospital psychiatric facilities to help people with severe mental health problems, given the analysis showing an increase in arrests for crimes for people with such problems. State training will also be provided on this front.
Despite the fact that traffic crimes in general follow pre-pandemic statistics, the perception is a reality and officials know this.
“We need to address both the perception and reality of safety, and the expanded partnership we announce today with Governor Hochul will do just that, building on the successes of our Metro Safety Plan. The bottom line is that passengers will see more officers in the system. , and so are those who are considering breaking the law, ”Adams said recently.
