Man Slashed On NYC Subway: Sixth Slashing Attack For 2016
On Sunday, January 31, a man was slashed in the face on a Manhattan subway platform. According to police officials, this was the sixth attack this month.
Man slashed on New York subway platform in sixth attack this year https://t.co/YcYQwx5dkp
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 31, 2016
Police say it all began when the 27-year-old victim became involved in a fight with a woman around 3 a.m. on the southbound platform on the No. 2 subway train at W. 110th St. and Lenox Avenue.
The woman then motioned for another man who allegedly approached the victim and slashed him in the face with a sharp object. Shortly after the attack, the victim was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital to be treated.
According to the New York Police Department, this subway slashing is just one of the six this year, and one of four just this week.
The first attack happened on January 25 when a 71-year-old woman named Carmen Rivera was slashed across the face by 21-year-old Damon Knowles while riding the D train in Greenwich Village, reports Pix 11.
Police said that Knowles was caught on camera jumping over a turnstile and falling after the random attack on Monday morning.
“He just pretended that he fell, and he fell on top of me, and that’s when he slashed my face,” Rivera told CBS News.“I didn’t even know ’cause I didn’t feel no pain.”
Rivera reportedly suffered from a 4-inch gash on her left cheek.
According to CBS News, Knowles was taken into custody on Tuesday after a relative of his girlfriend recognized him from the surveillance video and called the police.
The following day, the second attack happened when 29-year-old Natalie Lewis was sliced on the hand while riding the No. 3 subway train in Brooklyn. Before the slashing, attacker Ras Alula Nagarit allegedly told Lewis, “I will chop you up on this train.”
Nagarit was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon, reports The New York Post.
According to Pix 11, Nagarit has a history of violence. In 1996, Nagarit was arrested for a gunpoint robbery and later in 2013 for assault. Police were searching for him in connection to a 2014 assault and he will now likely be charged in that case as well.
Man accused of slashing at least 2 NYC women in Jan. facing charges in Manhattan & Bronx: https://t.co/Dall2N7p1p pic.twitter.com/CJYMbHoLYT
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 30, 2016
On the same day, 32-year-old Christopher Santiago of the Bronx was cut while riding the No. 6 subway train near the 116th Street station in East Harlem around 9:40 p.m.
Kari Bazemore was indicted this week on assault charges for allegedly slashing a woman on Mott Street outside of the subway on December 31, reports Pix 11. Bazemore was also charged with slashing Amanda Morris in the face while she was walking to work in Chelsea on January 6.
“I felt like I got punched in the face,” Morris told The New York Post.“It was like, ‘Oh, that’s weird. Why would someone punch me?’ Suddenly, blood was all over my hands, and I started crying.”
28-year-old Francis Salud was also indicted Wednesday for allegedly slashing a man in the face on January 16 in the East Village. Salud had been released on bail after an earlier slashing outside Bellevue Hospital in Midtown.
The randomness of such a crime can cause panic, but it shouldn’t, authorities say.
In an interview with CBS News, Commissioner William Bratton said that crime is inescapable.
“The reality is that we still have crime in New York City,” he said. We’ll always have crime in New York City. But, the reality is also that there is less crime in this city than there has been at any time in the last 25 to 50 years.”
Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce also said the spate was “a little unusual for us,” but he disregarded the idea of a copycat crime.
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
