Man stabs woman in Queens subway station after he asked for money, police say
NEW YORK - A woman is recovering after she was stabbed repeatedly at a Queens subway station.
It happened at the Jamaica-Van Wyck subway station around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
The attack came after a man asked the 23-year-old woman for money, police said. An argument started, during which he stabbed her, according to police.
Good Samaritans intervened and held the suspect until police arrived. He was taken into custody. So far, he's been charged with robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
"I was with my kids coming from a Venezuelan rally on Junction Boulevard and when we were exiting the station we noticed a man stabbing a woman, and a friend who was with me noticed," one of the people who intervened said in Spanish. "We put our kids to the side, we were panicked, but we decided to intervene and grab the man until police responded. She was hurt."
The woman was rushed to Jamaica Hospital and is in stable condition.
"If everyone does their part to help the most vulnerable, this world would be different," he said. "I would do this all over again if I had to… Without a doubt I'd do it again to help someone."
Pilot program scans subway passengers for weapons
The incident comes as New York City started scanning subway riders for weapons at select stations as part of a 30-day pilot program. If it is successful, the systems will be deployed at major subway stations citywide.
The electromagnetic detection systems are theoretically capable of detecting guns as well as weapons like razors.
"This is to add on to and leverage technology to prevent shooters in our subways, and this is about preventing mass casualty incidents," Mayor Eric Adams said when the program was deployed Friday.
Transit officials are staying mum on exactly where the scanners are being installed for safety reasons.
"Eventually, every turnstile is going to be able to identify if someone is carrying a gun"
"I think this is going to become a norm for us. I think the turnstiles are going to change. Eventually, every turnstile is going to be able to identify if someone is carrying a gun," Adams said earlier this month. "I think it's a game-changer for the transportation system across the globe."
The Legal Aid Society has taken issue with the scanners.
"These scanners will create significant inconvenience, adding congestion and delays to an already overburdened system," the group said in a statement. "Even worse, they are an unjustified invasion of privacy, and put people's lives at risk from the panic that an inevitable false alarm would induce."
Crime in transit system declining, officials say
Officials have recently touted an overall reduction of crime in the subway system, saying it is down nearly 8% overall this year compared to the first six months of 2023, and is 11% lower overall than subway crime in 2019, before the COVID pandemic.
"We've had five straight months of double-digit decreases in overall subway crime after we surged more than 1,000 additional officers into the system in February, and, so far, in July, we're on track for a sixth month of safer subways," Adams said in a statement last week. "Today, other than during the pandemic, our transit system is the safest it's been in 14 years, with the lowest number of robberies in recorded history."