NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Four people have been taken into custody in connection with a spate of attacks that took place on a lower Manhattan subway line early Friday morning, the NYPD said.
Four males — whose names and ages weren’t immediately released — were taken into custody at the 79th Street subway station on the Upper West Side around 11:20 a.m. on Friday, Transit District 1 Captain Kenneth Gorman said at a news briefing Friday afternoon.
While an investigation is ongoing, the NYPD believes the four are responsible for slashing three men and punching a fourth man in separate attacks on the No. 4 line that took place within a 12-minute span, Gorman said.
The department is working to determine if there was "somebody else involved in this" as well, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said at the briefing.
The apparently random assaults all happened on the No. 4 line before daybreak. MTA officials said there was also a fourth slashing on the same line early Friday.
The first assault was around 4:30 a.m., when a 45-year-old man was slashed in the face on a 4-line train at the Union Square station, according to police.
Police said two men in their 20s approached the victim on the platform and one took out a knife and slashed him across the cheek.
The victim was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was in stable condition.
A few minutes later, on the same train at the Astor Place station, the two men approached a 40-year-old man, and one of them slashed him in the face, according to police. The second man also punched a 41-year-old man in the face, police said.
The two victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
Then at the Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall station, the same pair slashed a 44-year-old man in the back of the head while demanding money and taking his cellphone, police said. He was taken to New York Downtown Hospital in stable condition.
Police said the duo fled on a train after each attack. The four suspects that were taken into custody are also believed to have stabbed a fifth victim in the right eye in the vicinity of Columbus Circle, police said.
That victim reported the attack to police officers at the Yankee Stadium subway station in the Bronx, according to police. He was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition and was undergoing surgery as of Friday afternoon, police said.
Speaking on 1010 WINS on Friday morning, MTA Chairman Pat Foye said there was also a fourth slashing on the Lexington Avenue line, which is served by the 4, 5 and 6 trains, around the same time as the other three slashings.
"The wounds do not appear to be life threatening, thank God," Foye said. "But enough is enough."
Foye said the slashings were "a continuation and an increase and a pattern of attacks on customers and employees that is absolutely unacceptable."
He again called for more police and mental health experts in the transit system.
"We need immediately—and we’ve been asking for months—a significant increase in the number of uniformed NYPD officers in the subway system, as well as a significant increase from the city of mental health resources to deal with the emotionally disturbed people that are behind many of these attacks," Foye said.
NYC Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg also released a statement following the slashings.
"These were five very serious armed robbery and slashing incidents at stations on the same line," Feinberg said. "All seemingly could have been prevented by a uniformed presence on each of these platforms."
"The responsibility for these vicious attacks does not fall on an already strapped police department," Feinberg said. "It falls on City Hall and the individuals who are taking advantage of the mayor's negligence on the issue. If he needed a wake-up call, this is it. Enough is enough. The mayor is risking New York's recovery every time he lets these incidents go by without meaningful action."
Mayor Bill de Blasio's spokesman Bill Neidhardt released a statement in response Friday: "New York City is surging over 500 officers on top of a 2,500-strong transit force to fight subway crime. The City has pulled cops off desk duty and put them on platforms and trains. We’re going to keep putting massive resources into this fight to keep our subways safe. Meanwhile the MTA sends out statements that point fingers and talk about mayoral politics. Get with the program, help us fight back this crime."
At an afternoon press conference with Foye, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano suggested that de Blasio resign, saying “he’s got blood on his hands.”
The slashings follow four unrelated subway attacks on Wednesday morning, including two at the Times Square–42nd Street subway station. Police are still searching for suspects in those attacks—including a slashing and stabbing—that wounded an MTA worker and three straphangers.
MTA officials have been calling for more police and mental health resources for months. De Blasio has said the city has flooded the subway with officers and that he believes the system will get safer as more people return.
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