NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Four suspects are in custody in connection to a series of violent attacks on five individuals in the city’s subway system early Friday morning.
Police officials say the first incident happened around 4:30 a.m. on a southbound 4 train at the Union Square station, when a 44-year-old man was approached by several men and was slashed across the left cheek.
Just five minutes later, as the same train was approaching the Astor Place station, a 40-year-old man was slashed and a 41-year-old man was punched, police said.
Minutes after that, as the train approached the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station, another 44-year-old man was slashed in the face by those same suspects, according to police.
Officials said that a fourth incident was reported 30 minutes later at Transit District 11 – located at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station – when a 48-year-old man informed officers that he had been stabbed in the eye by a group of men who approached him near 59th Street and Columbus Circle.
All of the victims were taken to area hospitals for treatment and MTA Chairman Pat Foye said none of the injuries appear to be life threatening.
NYPD Assistant Chief Jason Wilcox says officers were busy searching for the suspects immediately after the first incident was reported to officers, just moments after it occurred.
“The investigators immediately began interviewing victims and witnesses. Additionally, and subsequently, the Manhattan Transit Squad, along with the Transit Special Investigation Squad, also began an intense search for cameras for additional video footage [of the suspects],” Wilcox said.
Photos of the suspects were obtained and distributed to officers via their NYPD smartphones.
At 11:20 a.m., two NYPD officers, who were patrolling along the northbound 1 line at 79th Street and Broadway, then spotted four individuals who matched the photographs exiting a train.
“As the suspects exited the train they were taken into custody without incident and brought back to Transit District 1,” Wilcox said.
Police officials say the investigation remains ongoing, but Wilcox says they “are confident that we have the right people in custody at this time.”
He notes that one individual in custody was arrested in January for a similar knifepoint robbery and was released on his own recognizance.
The slashings follow four unrelated subway attacks on Wednesday morning, including two at the Times Square subway station. Police are still searching for suspects in those attacks, which wounded an MTA worker and three straphangers.
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MTA officials have been calling on the mayor to deploy more police and mental health resources into the transit system.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the subway has been flooded with police and that he believes the system will get safer as more people return, but transit officials say more needs to be done now.
In an interview with WCBS 880 on Friday, Foye said, "The answer here is not to solve these crimes, the answer is to avoid these attacks."
"They're crimes of opportunity and had there been additional police officers in the system, we believe that many or all of these attacks would not have occurred," Foye said.
NYC Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg was also critical of the mayor.
"These were five very serious armed robbery and slashing incidents at stations on the same line," Feinberg stated Friday. "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 - 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."
Mayoral spokesperson Bill Neidhardt in a statement to WCBS 880 said, "New York City has surged additional officers into the subway and increased mental health outreach teams. we are working hard to stop these crimes, while the MTA seems to be working hard on pointing fingers. Help us find the perp."
To that, Foye said finding the perp is the role of the police department but, he wants the attacks to be avoided completely.
The MTA Chairman said he is grateful to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea who has indicated he will put 80 additional classes of the new NYPD class into the Transit Bureau and 20-40 auxiliary officers.
Foye believes the transit system needs 600 to 800 additional police officers in the transit system as ridership is expected to increase as people return to offices, shopping, Broadway, restaurants and bars.
Foye said he's not asking for an officer in every train car. "You could have a cop in every station, you could have police officers going from train to train... we need additional, visible uniformed police officers to avoid these attacks on both customers and employees," he said.
Terry Steptoe of the transit workers union said his members are afraid to go to work.
"There are so many of us who are being assaulted on a daily basis, it's a shame. For us, our main concern is safety," Steptoe said.
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.”
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