Police investigate 2 separate overnight subway stabbings near Times Square
TIMES SQUARE (WABC) -- Two overnight stabbings near the Times-Square 42nd Street subway station are sparking new police investigations and revamping conversations around subway safety.
In the first incident, police are on the hunt for four people after a 31-year-old man was stabbed just after 11:30 p.m. at the 42nd Street Port Authority Bus Terminal station.
While the victim is expected to be OK, an active investigation is underway.
According to police, the people responsible surrounded the victim before the stabbing. The suspects apparently got away on the southbound A-C-E lines.
Hours later, a 24-year-old man was slashed on the arm at the Times Square 42nd Street station around 3:30 a.m.
The victim and a 25-year-old suspect apparently got into an argument before violence broke out on the No. 7 subway train platform.
The suspect was taken into police custody and was later identified as Michael Hernandez of Brooklyn.
MTA officials say subway crime is down nearly 7% this year, nearly 11% in the last month and 11% from 2019.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said that is a major step forward and they can focus more on subway crime.
"I think that we could really knock those numbers down even further if we start to put the recidivists out of the system. The people who get 5 to 10, to 20, to 50 arrests every year--and there are a lot of them--that are committing a disproportionate amount of the crime," he said.
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