It happened just after 4 p.m. at a crowded subway station at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in East Harlem.
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34-year-old John Kramer bumped into another man on the platform, who then pulled out a sharp object and slashed him.
The victim said he wants the man to be caught. "People like that don't need to be on the street," said Kramer, speaking exclusively with Eyewitness News.
Kramer said he was slashed across his forehead and behind his left ear. Cell phone video showed him on the platform, badly bleeding and in shock.
"We bumped into each other and he grunted at me," said Kramer. "He lunged at me with the knife in his hand. He stabbed me in my forehead, stabbed me in my ear."
The call triggered a large police response after the suspect fled the station and escaped. John was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital where he was treated and released.
Overall, crime in the New York City transit system is rare. Although robberies and assaults happen, there are just six crimes a day on average, in a system that carries six million daily riders.
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Yet people we spoke with say they worry. "That just proves to you that anytime, anywhere something can happen," one rider said.
"You can't hide from it. Something's gonna happen, something's gonna happen, you can't stop living," said another rider.
The suspect is described as a man in his 30s, wearing a black jacket, orange hoodie and blue jeans.
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