{"id":466346,"date":"2025-12-23T09:55:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T09:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/466346\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T09:55:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T09:55:30","slug":"scowling-nutjob-stabs-stranger-on-nyc-train-in-4th-transit-attack-since-hochul-boasted-of-safe-subways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/466346\/","title":{"rendered":"Scowling nutjob stabs stranger on NYC train in 4th transit attack since Hochul boasted of safe subways"},"content":{"rendered":"

A scowling maniac stabbed a 40-year-old stranger on the R train, cops said Monday \u2014 in one of four transit slashings since Gov. Kathy Hochul bragged about how safe the subways are<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest transit chaos unfolded at 2 a.m. Saturday, when the attacker approached the victim, and the two\u00a0started arguing\u00a0as the train traveled by the Steinway Street station in Astoria, police said.<\/p>\n

The stranger stabbed a 40-year-old man on board a southbound R train passing through Steinway Street in Astoria around 2 a.m. Saturday, police said. NYPD<\/p>\n

The nutjob pulled a knife and stabbed the victim three times in the ribs and once in the leg \u2014 but the victim managed to stumble out of the train and was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was listed in stable condition, according to the NYPD.<\/p>\n

He was uncooperative with investigators, sources said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NYPD released unsettling images of the alleged attacker \u2014 seen grimacing in a close-up photo. The slasher had stayed on board the train after the stabbing and was still on the loose late Monday, cops said.<\/p>\n

The clash was part of a violent spurt in the subway system that began just a day after the governor announced that subway crime had dipped to its lowest level in 16 years, and overall transit crime is now nearly 15% lower than in 2019 before the pandemic shutdown.<\/p>\n

The victim was knifed a total of four times, police said.<\/p>\n

Hochul boasted the drop in crime came after a sustained effort that put more cameras into the subway, an outreach effort that rousted the homeless into care from the trains and a surge of cops.<\/p>\n

The governor\u00a0touted\u00a0the record lows as she announced she\u2019s committing another $77 million toward keeping\u00a0NYPD officers in the subway system<\/a>\u00a0during 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese funds will support over 600 officers per day and keep riders safe and surge patrols where they are most needed at the discretion of our police commissioner to help cover overtime for those who are doing above and beyond,\u201d she said. \u201cTo make sure that people can ride the subways without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day after her announcement, at 7 p.m. Friday, a 23-year-old man was knifed in the back<\/a> on the northbound No. 1 train platform at 96th and Broadway, cops said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That assault also stemmed from a clash with another rider \u2014 a stranger \u2014 and the victim was hospitalized in stable condition, police sources said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saturday saw two more attacks in Midtown, just an hour apart.<\/p>\n

A 38-year-old man was stabbed in the torso on a crowded 6 train at Grand Central Station around 5 p.m., cops and sources said.\u00a0The two had been arguing over how packed the train was, sources said.<\/p>\n

The violence followed a celebratory announcement by Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said that subway crime has dipped to its lowest level in 16 years. freelance<\/p>\n

The attacker was still at large as of Monday.<\/p>\n

Then, around 6:10 p.m., a 15-year-old boy was slashed in the arm by another teen wearing a brown jacket at the 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal station on the A\/C\/E line, cops said.<\/p>\n

Sources said two 17-year-old boys had approached the victim and asked him, \u201cAre you in a gang?\u201d The two were arrested on the scene and charged with assault, menacing and reckless endangerment.<\/p>\n

An NYPD spokesperson said November was the safest in recorded history outside of the pandemic. There were 167 crimes reported that month, compared to 222 \u2014 a 24.8% drop, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was the safest July, August, September, October, and November combined on the subway in recorded history, excluding the pandemic year,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cRobberies in the transit system reached their lowest levels ever for November and the first 11 months of the year, including the pandemic years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through Dec. 21, major crimes are down 4.6% while there were 570 assaults in transit in the five boroughs \u2014 the same total for 2024, according to the NYPD. Of the felony assaults in transit, 30% were against cops and MTA workers, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Most straphangers The Post spoke to Monday are taking the recent uptick in subway crime in stride, saying dealing with the occasional lunatic simply comes with the territory in a big-city transit system.<\/p>\n

Jayden Gonzalez, 16, who was slumped on the bench at the downtown track at the Fulton Street station, says, \u201cYou can\u2019t expect much from NYC\u201d when it comes to subway safety.<\/p>\n

Bronx resident Jacob James, 19, who had set up a three-piece Conga drum set next to the Dunkin\u2019 kiosk, said he\u2019s been playing the \u201cwar drums\u201d with his father and brother for nearly a decade in a bid to \u201cboost morale\u201d in the city.<\/p>\n

In the subways, however, James says, \u201cit can be a little ridiculous at times,\u201d given the cast of characters riding the rails.<\/p>\n

He said the city\u2019s priorities are \u201cnot straight\u201d regarding subway crime, and criticized law enforcement\u2019s focus on fare beaters vs. more serious crimes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKeep up with today\u2019s most important news\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStay up on the very latest with Evening Update.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Other passengers said they were in a state of heightened alert after the series of bloody attacks.<\/p>\n

Sharon, from Brooklyn, has been riding the subways since the 1980s, but said this year was the first she felt like she needed to \u201cbrace for impact\u201d after a passenger acted violently on a train she was riding.<\/p>\n

Overall, she said she grades the subway service a \u201cB-\u201d and that she always has her trusty cane handy for protection.<\/p>\n

Yaron and Roni Benayoun, a married couple visiting the Big Apple from Netanya, Israel, admitted they were a bit uneasy taking the subway after seeing media reports on Israeli TV about last week\u2019s attack against a Jewish man, particularly as religious Jews.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my husband is not next to me, I feel scared,\u201d said Roni, 24, as the couple hopped on the 4 train to Bowling Green.<\/p>\n

A 25-year-old man from Crown Heights who asked not to be identified offered the advice to subway riders, \u201cyou gotta be careful and not be scared,\u201d adding that people shouldn\u2019t be discouraged from taking public transit.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t stop getting on the train because someone might get in your face.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A scowling maniac stabbed a 40-year-old stranger on the R train, cops said Monday \u2014 in one of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":466347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,12937,4219,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,4413,28715,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-466346","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-assaults","10":"tag-crime","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-queens","19":"tag-subways","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115768286267016806","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}