A 42-year-old homeless man has been arrested on assault charges after an accidental bump on the stairs of Manhattan's West 4th Street/Washington Square subway station led to one thrown beverage can -- and then a retaliative attack with a large knife -- in the latest string of violent transit incidents.
Cops say Gabrian Hidalgo was by himself when he passed the 28-year-old victim and two other men on the stairs leading to the A/C platform around 8 p.m. Sunday and they made physical contact. An argument began and the victim threw a can.
That part was caught on subway surveillance cameras -- and so was the moment the unidentified man by himself Hidalgo allegedly pulled out a large knife and slashed the 28-year-old in the hand. He then fled on a northbound A or C train.
The victim is expected to be OK. The other two people with him weren't hurt.
It wasn't immediately clear if Hidalgo had an attorney who could comment on the allegations against him.
Sunday's incident was just the latest in a series of now more than a dozen violent crimes in the subway system since Mayor Eric Adams debuted his new safety initiative less than three weeks ago.
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Major transit crimes are up 30% week over week, according to police data out Wednesday -- and more than 200% over the same week last year.
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Some of the recent cases have been particularly gruesome, including a hammer attack and robbery that left a city employee in critical condition late last month and a man seen on video smearing feces on a woman in an apparent hate attack.
Arrests have been made in both those cases, but the man in the latter case is now out on supervised release, officials said a day ago.
