A 72-year-old woman was pummeled in the face by another female straphanger inside a Bronx subway station Thursday night, cops said.
The senior was getting off the elevator at the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station around 7:15 p.m. Thursday when another woman started punching her repeatedly in the face, causing bruising and swelling, police said.
The attacker then fled on foot, cops said.
The elderly woman was taken to Lincoln Medical Center in stable condition, with a minor cut on her eye, authorities said.
Police released photos of the suspect, who remained at large Friday afternoon.
She is described as about 35 to 40 years old with a dark complexion, standing around 5-foot-6 and weighing around 200 pounds.
She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, tan pants, black sandals, and a black cover around her head, and was carrying a black book bag at the time of the incident.
The motive for the assault was unclear on Friday.
About 50 minutes later, a 19-year-old man was critically injured during a stabbing as he walked up the stairs at the Fulton Street and Van Siclen Avenue train station in Cypress Hills, authorities said.
The teen was leaving the J and Z station when he exchanged words with an unidentified man, who then stabbed him with a knife multiple times, cops said.
The nature of the clash was not immediately known.
The victim was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he was listed in critical but stable condition.
The suspect, believed to be in his 20s, fled the scene and has not been caught.
Police say he has a light complexion and stands around 5-foot-7, weighing about 160 pounds, with a slim build and black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail.
He was last seen wearing a red shirt with letters “CK” in the front, black Adidas sweatpants, black sneakers and carrying a black sweater over his right shoulder.
Earlier this week, a 36-year-old man was attacked and robbed on a Queens subway platform when he confronted a fellow passenger for vaping on the train, cops said.
The straphanger was sitting on a southbound R train approaching 36th Street around 4 p.m. Tuesday when he asked the man sitting next to him to stop vaping, police said.
That sparked a dispute, cops said.
When the train pulled into the station and both men got off, the rider who had been vaping punched the victim multiple times in the head, police said.
He then grabbed $200 from the victim’s pocket and ran off, authorities said.
The injured man was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he required stitches for a cut on his head and was listed in stable condition.
Cops say the assailant, who is still on the loose, is around 25 years old, 6 feet tall and 160 pounds, with a dark complexion, thin build, brown eyes, black hair and facial hair.
He was last seen wearing a red du-rag, a black tank top, pink shorts and blue and white sneakers, police said.
All three incidents come days after an unhinged 43-year-old man, Norton Blake, allegedly struck a 60-year-old woman dozens of times with her own cane during a heinous caught-on-video attack inside the West 116 Street and Lenox Avenue station, cops said.
Meanwhile, felony crime in the city’s subway system is down just over 4% so far this year – with 1,468 incidents reported on the rails since the start of 2023, compared to 1,534 during the same period in 2022, according to the latest data, updated Sunday.
Felony assaults on the rails are just about even with last year’s total, with two more reported this year – 378 compared to 376, according to the figures.
Robberies are down about 10.5% – with 359 incidents reported so far this year, compared to 401 last year.
“We’re very encouraged,” NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper told reporters during an unrelated press conference Tuesday. “We’re having a very, very good year, and it didn’t just happen. A lot of hard work, a lot of great work.”
He also cited “dramatic increases” in arrests and summonses made by NYPD cops in the subway system this year.
“How we accomplished this was increased presence and increased enforcement,” Kemper said. “And it’s because of that focus and that attention that we’re having this success. All credit goes to the men and women in the NYPD, our cops.”
