Police: Man Repeatedly Stabbed In Buttocks On Subway Journey In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - On the subway in Queens this past weekend, there was an attack so strange that the victim did not even know he had been stabbed.
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, police were hoping Wednesday that someone would help identify the suspect before he gets the chance to hurt anyone else.
Around 7:10 p.m. this past Sunday, the 42-year-old man was waiting at the 71st Avenue and Continental Avenue station in Forest Hills, Queens when he first felt someone push into him with a hard object. He told police it happened again as he was boarding an F train, and two more times as he got off the train a couple of stops later.
Police said the man discovered when he got home that he had been stabbed in the buttocks four times. He was treated at a hospital and released.
"I don't understand why people be doing this," said Augie Maris of Kew Gardens, Queens. "I don't think it's a joke."
The shocker for riders who spoke to CBS2 was learning that the victim said there was no argument – and no contact at all – leading up to the bizarre Sunday evening attack.
Initially, the victim felt discomfort, but told officers his main focus at the time was getting away from the crazed suspect -- who ran away at the Union Turnpike stop.
Police said in the moments after the attack, the victim didn't even know to call for help, because he didn't realize how badly he was injured. He discovered that only after he left the station.
Once home, the victim found the four stab and went from his house to the hospital.
"That's why when somebody comes near to me, I walk away," said Koomar Mangal of Jamaica Estates. "I don't keep close to no one."
"Absolutely -- we want to keep, you know, our family and children safe," added Karen DiCesare of Forest Hills.
Riding the subway with her husband and sons Wednesday, DiCesare asked where the police were.
"We should see more law enforcement around, and especially with family and the holidays and everything that is happening," she said.
The suspect in the attack is described as a black male about 25 years old, standing 6 feet tall, and weighing 220 pounds with a cast covering several fingers on his right hand. He was wearing a plaid jacket, Oakland Raiders shirt, black hat and black pants.
This was the third assault on a subway involving a knife in recent days.
On Wednesday, Dec. 16, a 48-year-old man, whom CBS2 identified only as John, was slashed in the neck at the Nostrand Avenue A Train station in Brooklyn.
Two days later, a well-dressed woman was caught on video slashing a man and woman on an A Train after the couple got on at the Jay Street-MetroTech station in Brooklyn.
No arrests have been made in any of the incidents.
Police caution subway riders to get their eyes up off their phones, newspapers and other distractions, be aware of surroundings, and increase personal space to get away from those who might do them harm.
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