NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Police are investigating four violent incidents that occurred Wednesday morning across the city subway system, including two attacks at the Times Square station.
A man was slashed in the face around 9 a.m. as he was sitting on a bench at the 42nd Street and 7th Avenue station.
According to WABC-TV, the attacker spat at the 35-year-old victim and slashed the left side of his face before fleeing.
No arrests have been made.
The victim was taken to Mount Sinai West Hospital in stable condition.
The attack came after an on-duty transit supervisor was punched in the face by an emotionally disturbed person at the same location in a separate, unrelated incident at 7:45 a.m. The suspect in that case also escaped.
Police have stepped up patrols in the Times Square area following a shooting incident at the Crossroads of the World that injured three people, including a 4-year-old child.
Subway riders were not shocked by the violence.
"People don't have money, people are acting crazy because of using drugs, so what do you expect? They're acting crazy," one straphanger said.
"We can do better when it comes to monitoring down here," another subway rider said.
NYC Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg responded to the incidents on Wednesday afternoon, saying they are yet another example as to why the subways need more uniformed police officers.
“Sadly, once again, we’ve seen several separate attacks within a few hours across three boroughs – two of them taking place at the busiest station in our system by far, Times Sq.-42nd St,” she said. “The mayor must act. The transit system needs an injection of additional mental health resources and a visible police presence on platforms and trains to deter crime and better support our customers returning to the system. New York’s economic recovery depends on it.”
There were two other acts of violence in the subway system Wednesday. In Brooklyn a 60-year-old woman was stabbed in the back and shoulder in an apparent robbery attempt at the Pennsylvania Avenue station and in Queens a man was arrested after a female passenger was hit in the face with a skateboard in an unprovoked attack at the 75th Avenue Station in Forest Hills.
Asked about the violent string of incidents at his daily briefing, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the subways are being flooded with police officers.
"We're going to keep a strong presence in the subways, we're going to do all the things we need to do to bring the city back," the mayor said. "I really think there's a direct interconnection now — the more people come back to the subways the safer they will get. Remember, pre-pandemic, literally there was about one index crime per million riders each day."
During an appearance on PIX11, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the NYPD has over 2,000 officers deployed throughout the transit system.
"We also flush in resources from Critical Response from local precincts at times, I think we've been pretty active on Twitter showing people how many auxiliary officers are in there, so there is large amounts of officers on a daily basis," Shea said.
The mayor said the city will make additional adjustments to the police deployment as necessary. Mental health resource teams are also deployed throughout the system.
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