6 subway stabbings in New York City over weekend; new safety plan rolls out
NEW YORK - Police in New York City were investigating several violent attacks over the weekend in the subway system.
This latest spurt of mayhem came as Mayor Eric Adams is set to roll out his new subway safety plan in an effort to cut down on crime on the subway system. The plan calls for more cops on top of the surge that has been underway. But now they will be joined by homeless and mental health outreach workers at major transit hubs and end-of-the-line stations like 168th Street and Broadway, the end of the C train line.
Early Monday morning, there was trouble on the No. 4 train near the 167th Street Station in the Bronx. A disturbed man who appeared homeless erupted into an unprovoked violent rage, then swung a pipe and hit a 30-year-old woman in the head.
And that followed a weekend of violence on the city's subway platforms and trains in which at least six people were stabbed.
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The attacks started less than 24 hours after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Adams announced the safety plan to help make people feel comfortable riding subway trains.
The first attack happened after 3 a.m. on Saturday at the Jamaica-Van Wick Subway Station. A homeless man was stabbed after three men allegedly tried to rob him.
Hours later, at around 3 p.m. a man attacked and stabbed a 20-year-old woman on a platform at the Van Siclen Ave. Station in Brooklyn.
A short time later, on a northbound No. 2 train in the Grand Concourse section of the Bronx, a 74-year-old man was attacked and slashed in the face after asking two women to stop smoking. Police were able to arrest the pair allegedly involved in that incident.
Then, around 8:30 p.m. in Washington Heights, a 24-year-old man was stabbed in the leg as two teens tried robbing him as he was leaving the 168th Street Station.
A half-hour later in Morningside Heights, a man was slashed in the arm while riding on a southbound No. 1 train.
Then around 6 p.m. Sunday, a man in his 30s was stabbed in the back and arm while on a 6 train in the Canal Street Station.
Adams' plan, announced Friday, involves sending more police, mental health clinicians and social service outreach workers into the subways. Adams spokesperson Fabien Levy said Monday that a "phased-in" implementation was beginning.
The plan notes that many people who use the subways for shelter need help, not handcuffs, but says police will crack down on sleeping, littering, smoking, doing drugs or hanging out in the system. It calls for clearing all passengers out of trains at the ends of their lines, an approach that has waxed and waned over the years.