A bloody outbreak of crime hit the city’s subway system over the past week – with at least five people hurt in a string of attacks including stabbings, slashings and a beating, cops said.
In the most recent burst of violence, a man was slashed on his hand as he tried to disarm a knife-wielding woman on board a No. 4 train at East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in East Harlem Wednesday morning, cops and sources said.
The 21-year-old woman and 43-year-old man, who do not know each other, started arguing on the train around 6:40 a.m., cops said.
The woman flashed a knife, and the two scuffled as the man tried to disarm her, authorities said.
The dust-up left the woman with a cut on her left elbow, and the man with a slash wound to a finger on his left hand, police said.
The woman was transported to Harlem Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition. She was also taken into police custody, with charges pending, authorities said.
The man was treated on scene for his injury, cops said.
In a Tuesday afternoon attack, a stranger punched and stabbed a 29-year-old straphanger over an accidental bump on board a train passing through Midtown, police and sources said.
The victim bumped into 23-year old Shemar Shaw on board a southbound M train at the 47–50 Streets/Rockefeller Center station just after 2 p.m. when the menace flew into a rage – punching him in the face and knifing him in his right side, cops and sources said.
The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
Shaw, of Brooklyn, was busted at the scene and charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said.
Shaw was released on parole back in August after serving more than five years in state prison on a robbery and assault conviction, online state Department of Corrections records show.
He was also released on his own recognizance after a November arrest for domestic assault in Brooklyn, according to cops and online records.
He has also been arrested for criminal possession of a weapon and menacing, cops said. In total, Shaw’s rap sheet includes nine felony charges and three misdemeanors, sources said.
In another attack on Sunday afternoon, a stranger pummeled a teen inside a Bronx subway station, cops said.
The attacker approached the 18-year-old victim inside the Grand Concourse and East 174th Street station in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx around 3 p.m. and punched him multiple times before taking off, authorities said.
The motive for the attack is unclear, and the victim refused medical attention for minor injuries, cops said.
The NYPD released a brief surveillance clip of the backpack-wearing attacker inside the station, with his hood pulled up. He was still on the loose Wednesday.
A staredown prompted another stabbing inside a Queens subway station late last week, cops and sources said.
A 28-year-old man was waiting for a northbound R train at Steinway Street in Astoria around 11:45 p.m. Friday when a clash erupted between him and another rider over eye contact, police said.
The stranger stabbed him multiple times in the leg and torso before taking off, cops said.
The victim was taken to the Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
No arrests have been made in connection to the attack, and the NYPD released a video of the long-haired, goateed attacker carrying an umbrella as he walked on the platform.
He was still on the loose Wednesday.
Despite the violence, the NYPD touted double-digit decreases in transit crime last month.
The department’s data revealed that transit crimes in January plunged 36.4% – with 147 such cases reported last month, compared to 231 in January of 2024.
So far this year through Sunday, 49 felony assaults have been reported in the city’s subway system, down from the 58 recorded during the same period last year, the latest statistics show.
But last week was particularly violent for the subway system, with 11 felony assaults reported, compared to just six during the same stretch in 2024, according to the data.
