UPDATE: Tuesday, September 3 at 9 a.m.: NYPD released a photo of the suspect this weekend wanted for slashing a man on the platform of an Upper West Side train station on Friday afternoon.
The attacker cut a 26-year-old man in the face on the northbound platform within the 72nd Street and Broadway train station, after some sort of argument escalated into a physical altercation, police said.
Here is the photo of the suspect, according to NYPD.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Original Story
By Gus Saltonstall
A man was slashed in the face Friday afternoon within an Upper West Side train station, a police spokesperson confirmed to West Side Rag.
The attacker cut a 26-year-old man in the face around 3:15 p.m. on the northbound platform of the West 72nd Street 1, 2, and 3 station after an argument broke out between the two men, NYPD said.
As of 4 p.m. on Friday, police said it was unknown what the argument was about. It is also unclear if the two men knew each other.
The victim was rushed to Mount Sinai West hospital in stable condition, police said.
The attacker fled the scene and there have been no arrests, NYPD added.
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Subway user platform safety: The NYPD is on it, I see. /s
I’m struck by how many of these incidents take place on or near the 72nd St. station. Police, who know that toll, should surely be posted on both ends of those platforms.
Vote better.
Voting won’t stop anyone from slashing someone. Any politician who is against crime will support getting rid of bail reform and ensuring the justice department can sentence people long and hard. But voting doesn’t stop violence.
I am not sure why it would not.
Getting rid of bail reform would ensure that sentences are correctly applied and
carried out.
This would deter aberrent behavior and save innocent lives.
In our current trajectory society norms will be breaking down.
(i.e stores closing due to shoplifting) one minor example of many,
So do expect there to be a policeman on every platform (at each end) at all times as well as at every entrance?
On the platform for more than a few hours per week would help.
YES
LIVES ARE BEING DESTROYED
You would need in excess of 8,000 police to cover every station, every entrance and double on every platform for three shifts every day. Assuming the cost of one patrolman is about $200K annually, that would cost the city in excess of $2B. Probably a lot in excess.
Be careful out there. Lots of short tempers and selfish people.
I was on a subway this morning with 10-15 other people. One guy was playing music on his phone extremely loudly – it was really obnoxious. The rest of us were making eye contact but no one said anything – not worth the risk – better to just switch cars. But who has the chutzpah to do that? I had a pair of cheap headphones in my bag and was going to hand them to him but again, not worth potential drama.
I hope the victim of this incident is OK and they catch and punish the attacker so that they and those who read about this don’t do something similar again.
Sadly this is the “new” New York, where the prevailing attitude seems to be “I’m going to do whatever I want.” The social compact has gone out the window for a whole generation of people who were brought up on a steady diet of reality TV and Tik Tok. It’s not that the individual you referenced couldn’t afford ear buds, their whole point is to make a captive audience uncomfortable in order to assert control in pursuit of some curated social media existence.
You did the right thing though as nothing upsets an anti-social jerk so much as being told they’re being an anti-social jerk. They literally lose it.
Anyone remember boom boxes? This is not new behavior.
Now explain guys with huge boomboxes playing music in the 1980s on public transport. It’s not a generational thing. It’s much more correlated with gender. I’ve never seen a woman doing this ever; it’s always men. They want to loudly show their masculinity to others. Nothing to do with social media per se.
Exactly…this is nothing especially new but now because of social media we hear about every single time it happens. 20+ years ago we would just be oblivious unless it made the papers.
I hope the victim recovers! I hate these loathsome bastards who have the gall to attack people but are so cowardly they won’t be punished for their crime. ☹️
It is time for the police to police and the prosecutors to prosecute. No more excuses. I don’t want to hear any more sad stories.
The police are policing. The prosecutors aren’t prosecuting, and voters aren’t voting.
The average person doesn’t realize the laws have changed, and penalties have been reduced. The average person feels powerless to change this.
please explain to me how the bail laws have changed for a violent attack with a knife. (hint: they haven’t.) bail reform does not include assault with a deadly weapon. The judges have the discretion to set bail or to remand to custody w/o bail… as they always did.
and remember, prosecutors have discretion (which is not new to this DA) to lessen the charges against a person.
I don’t have the facts to know if this discretion is being exercised more or less than in the past, so I am not opining on what the DA may or may not be doing,
How do you know they don’t prosecute these offenders when they’re caught?
I don’t care what you say about crime being down, the subway is safe, this is the safest city in the world…after living here for 25 years, I never felt more unsafe on the subway platforms these last 3 years than I ever have.
I still take the subway because I can’t afford Uber and taxis but on the platform watching every angle, standing in the middle of the platform, avoiding the mentally ill person walking toward me alone, I am sick of having my heart in my throat. Why should I have to move to feel safe after 25 years of living here? Not fair to the law abiding, tax-paying residents who have been here for years. When is enough?
Trust me. I’ve lived here 60 years and it was worse in the past. We just hear more about it now.
Agreed. I’ve lived here for 40+ years, and it was worse. When I first came to NYC, for school, we were warned not to go south of 96th St. by ourselves, not to ride the subway alone, and never, EVER to go into Morningside Park (among other things). We’re in a very different situation now.
40+ years ago… That’s around when I got here, 78th street … No one went higher than the mid 80’s !? Seems weird. A bit of a myth actually!
UWS not:
No one is saying NYC is the safest city in the world. However it is the safest big city in the USA.
The first thing I look for in these stories is whether there was an altercation or if it was a random attack. It’s fairly easy to avoid escalating a situation. Of course, there’s not much you can do about a random attack other than to be vigilant.
There are things you can do. As someone who grew up in NYC in the “bad old days”, I know that it’s important to not look like an easy target:
-Walk like you have a destination and you know how to get there.
-Look like you’re aware of your surroundings. It’s OK to read a book (or whatever) on the subway, but glance up very few seconds.
-Don’t look confrontational, but don’t appear meek or submissive, either.
-Be ready to take action. Don’t take sixteen things out of your backpack/handbag and “move in” to your seat. If you need to get out of the way of a conflict or threat, be ready to do so with little notice.
-Keep your back to something solid. When I’m waiting on a platform, I keep my back to one of the vertical steel I-beams. On a train, if I’m not seated, I keep my back to a door. When that door opens, I step onto the platform momentarily, so that I’m not one of those a-holes that block the door. Also, if your back is to the open doorway, it’s pretty easy for someone on the platform to grab something out of a back pocket, or to grab a handbag.
-Don’t fall asleep on the subway. Ever. I shouldn’t have to say this.
It’s amazing how these things stay with you even if they haven’t been needed for many years. And even though I know that subway crime isn’t anything like what I grew up with, it is up from what it was a few years ago. I definitely feel my “Brooklyn radar” pinging more than it used to.
Great list! I grew up in Queens and commuted into Manhattan for high school in the late 80’s/early 90’s. My dad, a former NYC police officer, sat me down and had a discussion about street awareness and safety. His advice was much of what you have on this list!
Now, I have found myself providing that same advice to my high school son and high school starting daughter.
One major difference today is that all of us are so buried in our phones and devices that people don’t even see things unfolding around them.
Sound advice.
Be alert and courteous.
unfortunately, the courteous part seems to be lacking in society these days.
We need more cops and cameras on the trains.
This was on a platform.
I have never taking a subway in New York. I’ve been living here 57 years and I don’t plan to, Give me a yellow cab anytime to get where I have to go in Manhattan..
Maybe you don’t work here or anywhere. I work in the Bronx-I have to take 3 trains. Who could afford to take a cab to work 5 days a week? I don’t know why you even said that.
Not everyone can afford cabs.
I wish I had your budget. You live a very privileged life. Or else you never leave the UWS which perhaps is worse. I had a wonderful day exploring downtown today. $2.90 on the subway each way. $20+ cab ride each way. I’ll take the subway. It is far from ideal but I will take my chances.
$1.45 if you’re over 65 or disabled! My friend, who just achieved that exalted age, rides from her home in Washington Heights to Rockaway Beach every weekend. If she brings her own lunch, it’s a vacation day for under three bucks. Can’t beat that in a taxi.
How nice for you. Not everyone can afford such luxuries.
Being a “block association cmp ” you can afford it.
It’s crazy but it seems as though knife violence and slashing incidents have become really prevalent. This is really a really disturbing trend as they are probably much more accessible and concealable. What’s the answer? There’s probably no practical way you could have metal detectors at subway turnstiles.
No, but they can make turnstiles impossible to jump.
This report says that the victim had confronted the attacker because the attacker entered the subway system without paying the fare. Citizens try to instill a sense of civic duty and can be slashed for it.
https://abc7ny.com/post/nyc-crime-man-slashed-face-during-dispute-inside-upper-west-side-subway-station/15248836/
Wow – how many times have any of us wanted to say something to a fare evader? But the likelihood of someone jumping a turnstile also carrying a knife is probably on the high side. And what do you expect the perpetrator to do? Say “I’m sorry”?
The NYPD was changed permanently and profoundly after the George Floyd riots. Morale fell through the floor, many Officers who could retire did, some just left. Most others became blue potted plants, just stand there and do as little as possible because you know if you try to be the Police, and something goes wrong you are screwed. So, this was taught to the new cops, and this is the new culture of the NYPD. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.
I think that’s a gross oversimplification. Police all over the country know that the likelihood of being disciplined, fired or criminally convicted (or even charged) for egregious behavior is still extremely small. And that applies here in NY. The conviction for George Floyd’s murder is a glaring exception.
OPOD,
Well the NYPD did not acquit itself well, especially during the Bronx protests.
It also looks to have allowed midtown looting.
That is unacceptable, to stop doing your job just because a certain segment of the population thinks you are a “pig”. Don’t blame George Floyd. Anti police sentiment started in the 70’s. If this is the way the police feel, let’s start over. Let’s fire our current do nothings and contract with a non-union, accountable private force.
Lisa nobody stopped doing their job, they simply do it differently, say a cop sees a person who is acting suspicious but not breaking the law, this might be a good time to find a suspiciously good cup of coffee somewhere else. The new cops for the most part would not even know what suspicious is because the older cops don’t teach them anymore. This like if you have a great guard dog and you hit him with a newspaper if he barks, He will watch quietly, and people steal your stuff. If an NYPD Cop sees a crime being committed and does nothing, that is a crime. And that almost never happens, but doing the minimum is simply the new normal.
This is called not doing their jobs. If the culture of NYPD is this bankrupt (and I tend to agree with you that it is) then the leadership need to be replaced.
Maybe if we get politicians who are more anti-crime than they are anti-carceral state maybe morale among the police will improve.
you can be both anti-crime and anti-carceral state. Both are problems. Most of our elected officials are both. Why would you want someone to be in favor of the “carceral state”, which by definition keeps way too many people locked up?
Reminder: the police officer who killed George Floyd was found guilty of murder.
Mayor make any comment? Is he around?
Not sure if he’s back from his summer vacation in Europe. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anything about him in the past few weeks.
We need more police officers here on UWS. But, before that can happen we need a better city council person – who has priorities right. Safety is at the top of the list! Nothing will change here on UWS and will only get worse, unless we vote Gale Brewer OUT of office in this next election. Our district is dangerous in so many respects. We need a leader whose priority is to pave a safer path for our community. Vote Brewer OUT!
This is terrible. However, there are definitely more police around then before. I was just at the new Key Food on Broadway earlier this evening, and I figured there was a violent crime or something, because there were at least ten police officers standing around the benches. The alleged criminal was sitting on the bench in front of Key Food. Turns out he was a shoplifter. I mean, it’s good they caught him but ten officers for a non violent crime seems excessive…Some of these officers maybe should be patrolling 72nd St platform instead…I guess it was a slow crime night on UWS; let’s be thankful for that!
To all those remarking things were way worse years ago. I don’t care. I care that 25 years ago until 3 years ago things were much better and why should we feel better that it’s not as bad as 40 years ago. Ridiculous. Our city council, state reps and DA should make people accountable and dissuade these crimes from happening due to repercussions. Ridiculous what is being allowed and that is why we are where we are. All standing in the dead middle of the platform or against a wall watching for any movement. Fix it.
Today, the belief that putting a perp in jail is deemed more an affront to society than the harm the perp causes innocent vics . They have bought into the ideology that the perp can’t help themselves and does this because of what privileged society has inflicted upon them, so this is the penance others must endure. It’s a vicious cycle. Maybe start thinking differently about how members of society should behave? And the rules for when they don’t.
And, that it isn’t based upon skin color. People have immigrated to the US for centuries. Seek a better life, but crime is not OK. And for those brought against their will, it was wrong, but this is also not an excuse for crime. We need to all say enough with the race driven excuses. THIS perpetuates racism, Raise the bar for humanity.